Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks agoWe Need Positive Energy to Get Through Gloomy Times
Ordinary life’s small annoyances accumulate anxieties, yet small details and rituals reveal meaning and remind people of their lives’ value.
A soaking wet George Bailey and Clarence, warming up by the fire in the toll house on the bridge, discuss why Clarence jumped into the freezing water. It was to help George, Clarence tells him. Only one way you can help me, George says sarcastically. You don't happen to have 8,000 bucks on you? The film then cuts to an elated George running through town, gleefully shouting Merry Christmas to the You are Now in Bedford Falls sign, Mr. Potter, the bank examiner.
The 1946 Frank Capra movie, about a man who on one of the worst days of his life discovers how he has positively impacted his hometown of Bedford Falls, is beloved for extolling selflessness, community and the little guy taking on rapacious capitalists. Take those values, add in powerful acting and the promise of light in the darkest of hours, and it's the only movie that makes me cry.