IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. An Affirmation for Everyone

It’s a Wonderful Life… Each of us has moments of doubt and weakness. Each of us has been shaped by fate, for better or worse. Each of us has experienced both great triumphs and crushing defeats. That’s what life is, and that’s the peculiar charm of it—a charm that can be hard to see at times. It’s a kind of balance in this brief instant generously torn from eternity. A balance without which there would be no joy or sorrow, no laughter or tears. After all, if you win all the time, you never know the true taste of victory—you can’t truly enjoy life until you’ve actually lived it…

So everyone has difficult moments, yet most people try not to give up and keep going, facing their fate and often walking straight into the wind. We all have our setbacks, problems, and worries, but the worst thing you can do is surrender. Human beings are inherently good, but under the weight of life’s unpredictable blows, they can lose their way—or simply give up…

George Bailey was that kind of person. Even in his early youth, he showed signs of someone destined for greatness. He saved his brother’s life. People admired him and liked him. As a young man burning with energy, he boasted passionately about his dreams, ideals, and plans for the future. He wanted to see the world and imagined his life as one long adventure. Unfortunately, he was never able to fulfill those dreams the way he wanted. His father’s death set off a series of events that forced George to take over the family business and remain in sleepy Bedford Falls.

Later events only deepened his discouragement and sense of a wasted life, and although they were interwoven with wonderful moments—his wedding, the birth of his children—that bitter taste lingered. One day, George could no longer withstand the pressure of misfortune and broke down—something he had every right to do. No one could help him, because no one truly understood what kind of help he needed. The bitterness of existence and the sting of failure accumulated into one terrifying moment that almost led to tragedy.

Only when the angel Clarence showed George what the world he loved and hated in equal measure would look like without him—what Bedford Falls would become without his constant fight for honesty and fairness, what paths his friends and acquaintances would follow without his advice and encouragement—only then did George open his eyes. Only then did he understand that, without realizing it, he had changed the lives of countless people through his friendship and love, and sometimes with just a single word or small gesture.

Struggling against the blows of fate, George never noticed the beauty he spread around him. Fixated on his own “bad luck,” he couldn’t fully appreciate what he had achieved, what he had changed, what he had done… He couldn’t see that to the people of Bedford Falls he was a hero, a role model, and an inspiration—an inspiration to keep a cheerful spirit, to face adversity, and to treat others with kindness.

When all tried-and-true methods failed—when reason and faith failed—George, driven by despair, wanted to destroy God’s greatest gift: he wanted to take his own life. And it was then that an unassuming angel, with the intelligence of a rabbit and the faith of a child, searching for his wings, helped him find a light in the tunnel and showed him the right path. That light blossomed into fireworks of friendship, love, and respect showered upon him by the people of Bedford Falls.

When he needed it most, his friends and neighbors refused to let him lose, refused to let him give up, and offered him what he had given them for so many years—hope. Because what are a few miserable dollars compared to the chance to help someone?

Life is beautiful, life is wonderful—so long as we have someone to say it to, someone to live it with, to share sorrows and worries with, someone who can show us that beauty, someone who can see that constant suffering is, in the long run, a waste of time. You have to live life to the fullest, seize the damn day in every possible way, and revel in it until you run out of strength—and only then accept your fate. You have to fight so that at the end of your life you can look in the mirror and say, “I made it. I used the time I was given as well as I could!” And then nothing will be frightening anymore…

Capra works with a full spectrum of emotions, but these are not cheap tricks—they are the carefully thought-out moves of the genius he was. His It’s a Wonderful Life, despite all the drama it portrays, is an extraordinarily uplifting film, one that inspires action—both small and great. It carries a powerful dose of optimism and a beautiful message: that what matters is not what we do, but how we do it. And the brilliant ending contains the very essence of humanity—what can be achieved on this vale of tears. In today’s cynical, rat-race world, the film resonates even more strongly than it did sixty years ago, because who, if not the individual living in a world increasingly dominated by machines, can better understand the value of another person’s friendship?

What Capra also seeks to convey is that people are what matter most. Not money, not a shiny new car, not parties or glamorous lights. It’s the people around us who truly count. That man I passed on the street, that woman at the grocery store who smiled at me for no reason, Mrs. Zosia from across the street yelling to little Maciuś to come home for dinner… All of them… ALL of us make up both the blessing and the curse of this world.

Without people, there would be nothing. No joy or sorrow, no love or hatred, no wars, no space travel, no technology, no weddings, funerals, or christenings… It’s sometimes hard to grasp that we are part of this world—one of billions of gears working toward our own plans and dreams. It’s sometimes hard to think that someone might have it worse, that at this very moment someone is fighting for their life, that at the same time someone is being born, and someone else is dying… Yet that’s exactly how it is. We must show kindness and understanding; we must give our best and cherish what others give us in return. And even though George lacked money, he was, in truth, the richest man in town.