It’s a Wonderful Life
Being the miracle is all about stirring the ingredients of awareness and connection, understanding that meaning lies somewhere in the aftermath.
-The Miracle Collectors
Over the coming holidays we celebrate miracles, whether it's the birth of Jesus as the light of the world or the festival of lights known as Hanukkah. It is a special time for connection with loved ones. In this month's blog, Katie talks about connection to each other as foundational to life itself…
As some of you know, we included a story about the angel Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life in The Miracle Collectors. It’s one of my favorite Christmas movies, so I was intrigued to read a recent article about a modern-day version of the story – a man, overcome with despair on Christmas Eve, is contemplating suicide when an angel tries to save him.
Dean Simpson was a disabled NYPD officer and an admitted alcoholic who had recently lost his father (a retired NYPD officer himself) to cancer and lost his girlfriend to another man. When he awoke on 9/11 to the news that the Twin Towers had fallen, the realization that his friends and fellow officers rushed into danger as he slept off another night of drinking was more than he could take. 2001 dragged on as he attended 23 funerals over the ensuing months. He decided the next funeral would be his own and on Christmas Eve boarded a train to Albany in upstate NY where he planned to end his life at a peaceful spot he’d heard about near Lake George. Carrying with him only his father’s bible and revolver, he was intent on being left alone. When an older woman began chatting him up on the train, he was none too pleased and became irritated as she prattled on about her life. But somehow, slowly, she got him to open up about his own life and showed such compassion as he relayed his story that it moved him to tears. As the train pulled into Albany, she left and returned momentarily to give him a note. She said, “I don’t know where you’re going, but when you get there, read this.”
Dean made it to the spot overlooking Lake George where he finally read her note, scrawled on a scrap of pink paper, “Dean, Life is a gift meant to be shared. Don’t ever give up hope! Merry Christmas, Erin.” He stared at the note for some time and as he did so, a weight lifted. He emptied the gun chamber and made his way down the trail back to civilization. He stopped drinking and moved to Florida where he found his purpose in helping veterans like himself. He met the woman he would later marry and keeps the note from Erin in his father’s bible. Despite repeated attempts to find Erin, he has never been able to do so.
“Life is a gift meant to be shared.” Sounds simple, but it speaks to a profound truth celebrated in an African tribal philosophy called Ubuntu: I am because you are. I am alive by virtue of being with you. We are interconnected and dependent on each other for survival. Connection with our fellow humans is a gift that gives life meaning. We may never know the effect that a simple gesture may have on someone else as we spill into each other’s lives, hopefully with grace and kindness more often than not. As Dean later said, “Angels are around us. People talk about acts of kindness. We may not realize how many of them are bestowed on us every day.”
As we celebrate the holiday season, let us be more aware of the many ways we are connected to each other and how those connections give our lives meaning. Merry and Happy to the “wonderful life” we share together this time of year! (Katie)