Gil Smart in his column “Bailey gives way to Potter” reflects on the meaning of the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” as follows:
“We come now at the end of a year marked by incredible hardship. Unemployment and want stalk the land, quietly though never too deep beneath the surface. As I’ve said before, I had hoped this nation would respond with compassion and a spirit of shared sacrifice — perhaps as George Bailey might have.
“But we’ve instead taken Potter’s tack, rejecting even the notion of shared sacrifice. Let the burden be borne by the ‘riffraff.’ Worse, a nation of people who see themselves as George Bailey incarnate now identifies with Potter, believing — tragically, wrongly so — that our interests are somehow aligned with his; he is our benefactor.
WATCHDOG: Two wags of the tail. May this Christmas fable influence with whom we identify the other 364 days of the year (365 on Leap Years.)
