Somtimes, It’s all in a sentence…

I was hanging with my friend Dave not too long ago.  I was lamenting that my wife, a woman of nearly 40 years, had never seen “It’s A Wonderful Life”, the Frank Capra classic about how a single, seemingly ordinary life can affect so many others.   This was a fact of some consternation to me.  I had tried over the years to get her to watch it with me but nothing had ever worked.  My wife, by all indicated behavior, has some irrational fear of black & white movies.  Dave and his wife Marla decide that perhaps wrapping the film inside a social visit might work better.  A plot was hatched. 

     We went over last night, along with our kids, who get along famously with Dave & Marla’s and enjoyed a fine meal.  Dave cooked traditional Latkes( potato & onion pancakes fried in oil to commemorate the oil in the Hanukkah ceremony ) along with vegetables & non-traditional ham.  A quick word about Dave & Marla.  Dave was raised Jewish and Marla was raised Episcopalian, but later converted.  They are not what you’d call ”hardcore” about their faith but do celebrate both Hanukkah, as well as Christmas.  Dave just loves the pageantry and the traditions of the faiths.   When they were first married, Marla was a little concerned about Christmas, in that, she was afraid she’d never celebrate it again.  She came over to Dave’s to find a fully decorated Christmas tree.   They fully understand that I’m an agnostic who flirts with atheism,  but lives in a house full of Catholics, and they’re cool with it.  In short, Dave & Marla are my kind of people.

     Well, we watched Capra’s masterpiece and it was as good as it has been every year since its release in 1946.  I got teary-eyed at the end, as did Dave.  I got a kick out of watching my wife Jen pick up on some cultural touchstones that came from the film, particularly Bert the cop, and Ernie the taxi driver, and how they had loaned their names to a couple of puppets about 20 years later.  I think Jen now has a favorite Christmas movie.  And, If I may pose a question to the men out there, seriously, how hot was Donna Reed back in the day?  The hour was late and we needed to get our kids in bed, and as we were packing up Dave had the line of the night:

“Married 16 years and you had to bring her to the Jewish house to see the Christmas movie!”

     We all laughed out loud, said our good-nights, and retired for the night.  Dave’s joke got me thinking though.  It brought me back to a discussion I was having with friend and fellow blogger Curt Harding( curtharding.wordpress.com).  Curt’s a staunchly Christian fellow who disagrees with me on a great many topics from religion, to politics, to ideology.  The thing about Curt is, we laugh together.  Same with me & Dave.  I firmly believe that if people can laugh together, no matter how far apart they are on the outside, they are actually closer than you can possibly know.  Curt & Dave would get along great, I’m sure of it.  So I’m left to ponder this:  If a Jew, a conservative Christian, and a godless liberal, can all laugh together, then what’s the problem, really?  It makes one wonder, couldn’t we just get everyone together, tell some really good jokes, and then see where we stand?  Stupidly idealistic?  Perhaps, but Saturday Night Live is still on the air and that makes me think anything is possible. 

     So, thank you to Dave & Marla for taking my family in, feeding us,  and exposing my wife to the magic of George Bailey and Clarence.  And thank you particularly to Dave, for reminding me that what we have in common, can be much more powerful than what separates us.  A lesson we would all do well to remember this Friday.

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