seantmstiennon (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} seantmstiennon) wrote,@ 2009-07-08 10:10:00 |
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Wonderful indeed
"Awesome" is an overused word. It used to be a forty-gun frigate of a word, the sort a man would utter in breathless astonishment as he watched Krakatoa erupt or beheld the first nuclear detonation at Bikini Atoll. Now everything is awesome. Either everything has gotten cooler since Krakatoa (possible), or "awesome" is the victim of word cheapening. Like cool before it, although I personally prefer cool--it's nicely laid back.
Anyway, I'm not here to talk about anything awesome. Today's topic is simply wonderful.
Jimmy Stewart on IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
(Thanks to Overlord Johne for the link!)
A couple posts ago I mentioned a handful of movies I love enough that I don't really get sick of watching them. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE has a slot on that list.
It's been called goopy and overly sentimental, and perhaps it is. But I don't find any of that sentiment contrived or artificial. You know what, I probably shouldn't wax poetic about how much I love it--I'd risk straying into the goop myself. So I'll keep my remarks brief.
Life is disappointing. If you disagree. . .lucky you! E-mail me with winning lottery numbers. But for the rest of us, life contains plenty of unfulfilled dreams, failed aspirations, plans that go awry, and endeavors which seem to reap nothing but weeds. I'm not saying I live a life half as good as George Bailey's, but sometimes it's nice to reflect that a humble life, lived well and with courage, can do as much good or more as the heroic lives which get noticed and glorified. To reflect that God is watching over us even in despair and disappointment, guiding us to the place we need to be. Like George Bailey working a ramshackle building & loan and having a bunch of kids who, occasionally, get on his nerves, rather than traveling the world and collecting his personal harem.
It's a tribute to humility, to the men who keep the world moving by simple acts of kindness that might never be recognized or acknowledged in any visible fashion. It delves into crushing despair, the kind which builds up over a lifetime, and manages to bring hope out of it.
Peace, all!
"Awesome" is an overused word. It used to be a forty-gun frigate of a word, the sort a man would utter in breathless astonishment as he watched Krakatoa erupt or beheld the first nuclear detonation at Bikini Atoll. Now everything is awesome. Either everything has gotten cooler since Krakatoa (possible), or "awesome" is the victim of word cheapening. Like cool before it, although I personally prefer cool--it's nicely laid back.
Anyway, I'm not here to talk about anything awesome. Today's topic is simply wonderful.
Jimmy Stewart on IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
(Thanks to Overlord Johne for the link!)
A couple posts ago I mentioned a handful of movies I love enough that I don't really get sick of watching them. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE has a slot on that list.
It's been called goopy and overly sentimental, and perhaps it is. But I don't find any of that sentiment contrived or artificial. You know what, I probably shouldn't wax poetic about how much I love it--I'd risk straying into the goop myself. So I'll keep my remarks brief.
Life is disappointing. If you disagree. . .lucky you! E-mail me with winning lottery numbers. But for the rest of us, life contains plenty of unfulfilled dreams, failed aspirations, plans that go awry, and endeavors which seem to reap nothing but weeds. I'm not saying I live a life half as good as George Bailey's, but sometimes it's nice to reflect that a humble life, lived well and with courage, can do as much good or more as the heroic lives which get noticed and glorified. To reflect that God is watching over us even in despair and disappointment, guiding us to the place we need to be. Like George Bailey working a ramshackle building & loan and having a bunch of kids who, occasionally, get on his nerves, rather than traveling the world and collecting his personal harem.
It's a tribute to humility, to the men who keep the world moving by simple acts of kindness that might never be recognized or acknowledged in any visible fashion. It delves into crushing despair, the kind which builds up over a lifetime, and manages to bring hope out of it.
Peace, all!
