January 3, 2021
World War II is over. On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, 38-year-old George Bailey stands on the side of bridge contemplating suicide on a blistering, snowy, stormy night.
Under George‘s leadership, a Savings and Loan had eventually established Bailey Park, a modern housing development that threatened an overpriced slum. The slum is called Pottersville, and its owner, Mr. Henry F. Potter, offers George $20,000 a year—quite a bit of money in the 1940’s—to come and work for him. Realizing that Mr. Potter‘s true intention is to destroy the lives of the little people and enslave them. George rebukes and rebuffs him.
This storyline is very timely. In fact, this is what is happening in Washington. George Bailey could be a newly elected representative standing up to the established good ol’ boys who want to do business as usual in the nation’s capital. George says no to the establishment and helps the little guy.
But Mr. Potter, who knows how to play the game from years of manipulating the system, ruthlessly takes advantage of George by tricking one of George’sunsuspecting employees—Billy. (Billy is your typical nice guy. If he was a representative in in Washington, he might possibly receive the attentions of a ‘Communist Chinese honey pot spy’ in exchange for American secrets.)
With a bank examiner scheduled to review the Saving and Loan’s records, Billyloses the cash with the help of scheming Mr. Potter. George fruitlessly retraces Billy’s steps to find the money to save himself and his company, family, friends and the community he so loves—but it is nowhere to be found.
Devastated and suicidal, George flees into a blistering snowstorm’s harsh flurry and tempest. He faces the prospect of economic ruin, scandal and criminal charges. As he stands on a bridge’s railing, ready to plunge down into the swirling abyss, he sways in the turbulent wind, wishing he had never been born. Suddenly, the prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven. Instead of falling to his death, George is visited by an angel, Clarence Odbody.
Angel Clarence shows George an alternate timeline in which he never existed. In this reality, Billy goes to jail for money laundering. As George doesn’t exist, his children were never born. His wife, Mary, never marries and is a spinster librarian. His hometown is now called Pottersville. The “Mom and Pop” restaurants are no longer owned by his many immigrant friends.
They are controlled by one powerful and greedy entity, Mr. Potter who never considered their lives to be worthy or essential. Shocked out of his despondency and desperation, George wants to go back to his family and friends. He begs the angel to give him back his life.
On Christmas Eve, the police come to arrest George. But his loving wife, Mary, and the forgetful but good-natured Billy have rallied the people. They have donated more than enough to cover the missing $8,000. The police tear up the warrant in front of the Bailey Christmas Tree and the pieces of paper fall to the floor.
Under the Christmas tree, amid the scraps of the arrest warrant and on top of the pile of donated cash, George finds a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer left by Clarence. This great classic is now banned from our children’s libraries. As everyone gathers in community and support (a right which is now being withheld from Americans because of the Chinese COVID virus), Georgereads the note Clarence wrote inside the book, “No man is a failure who has friends.”
At that moment, a bell on the Christmas tree rings. George‘s youngest daughter, Zuzu, exclaims, “Daddy—that means that an angel has just earned his wings.” And so, Clarence, the second class angel, got his wings. George and his community are saved from the tyranny and enslavement of a ruthless, greedy man because one man refused to give up and the people followed him. They did not surrender.