Every year, after December 1st, I have to watch a few movies before Christmas day to help me get into the spirit of the holidays. “It’s a Wonderful Life” 1946 with Jimmy Stewart, “A Christmas Story” 1983 with Darren McGavin, “Lethal Weapon” 1987 with Mel Gibson, “Die Hard” 1988 with Bruce Willis, “A Christmas Carol” 1938 with Reginald Owen, although Patrick Stewart did a very good portrayal in 1999. Other movies I can watch them or skip them, but these I need to see before Christmas day.

It’s a Wonderful life reminds me that even though I did not get the life I thought I wanted, I still have had a good life with everyone that I influenced. And while I may never know everyone that I influenced, I did influence many. A Christmas Story reminds me of a simpler time in my life. While it wasn’t my dream to have a Red Ryder BB gun, mine was the Minolta Weathermatic waterproof 110 camera that I had to have. At that time, I still had dreams of becomming an Oceanographer and I was part fish because I loved to snorkle in the Pacific Ocean. A simpler time when there was more ‘good will’ toward your fellow man and my only job as a kid was to study and watch Saturday morning cartoons like Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. Lethal Weapon reminds me that sometimes, the best friend just may be your opposite, and ‘Im getting to old for this shtuff. I said shtuff. My mother reads my blogs, so I said shtuff. Die Hard is a reminder to never give up. Just like Winston Churchill once said “Never give up. Never, never never give up”. I am reminded of the picture of a crane swallowing a frog, but the frog has its hands trying to choke the crane and the picture is encaptioned Never give up.

And the story of A Christmas Carol has many lessons, one of which is the warning given to Scrooge from the Spirit of Christmas present when Scrooge sees a wrinkled hand from under his cloak. A boy called ignorance and a girl named want. The boy named ignorance was the more dangerous of the two. I look around in America today and see examples of both of these dangerous children. Mankind has fostered both. Both are dangerous and destructive yet, as Charles Dickens warned, ignorance is the more dangerous of the two. We have a generation of people wallowing in ignorance and lack of respect for themselves as well as their fellow man (and woman). I can see only one sollution to a generation of ignorant people, it is called vouchers. Taxpayers pay for education and parents, not a village, are responsible for their children. So the power to chose what school to send their children is paramount is correcting the damage of public education where teachers are allowed to teach the children that trans-woman are normal, drag queens can strip tease in front of kindergartners and parents that protest are placed on the FBI terrorist watch list. I will still use words like mother, father, man, woman and I sleep in a Master Bedroom. And anyone that pushes or thinks that ESG is a good idea is, in fact an ignorant and dangerous person. Yes, Dickens warned us of ignorance and want, both being dangerous and destructive to society.

What movies/stories do you enjoy and what lessons do they teach you?