Monday, October 29, 2007

What insight about change and decision-making do you see portrayed in the movie "Experiment in Terror"?


Of the characters presented, who do you identify with? Who changes in the movie and what does that character decide?

Enjoy watching the movie and thanks for participating.

John

"Experiment in Terror"


Following the 1985 “Witness” please view the 1962 “Experiment in Terror” which I describe in summary as follows:

1. Where are you coming from? [The hero is seen in his or her ordinary world.]
Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick), a bank teller lives in the Twin Peaks area of San Francisco with her sister Toby (Stephanie Powers). Arriving home one night, she parks her car in the garage. When the garage door goes down mysteriously, she realizes someone is there with her. Though she looks around she does not see a man come upon her from behind. Grabbing her, the shadowy figure quickly threatens her, in an asthmatic voice, with death, tells her he knows about her sister, and personal details of their lives.

2. Where are you wanting to go? [The hero is called to adventure.]
The man tells he wants $100,000 from her. When she complains to him that she doesn’t have that kind of money, he tells her she’s going to rob her bank. He’ll even give her 20% of the take. He warns her not to provoke him.


3. What are you waiting for? [The hero is reluctant.]
Once she thinks he is gone, she goes into her home and calls the FBI and begins to talk with John Ripley (Glenn Ford), telling him that someone wants her to rob a bank and that he has threatened to kill her and her sister. But Kelly’s call is interrupted by the man who knocks her out and to the floor. When she comes to, the man tells her this was the “one mistake” he was going to allow her. Meanwhile Ripley and his partners are calling all of the phone numbers for Sherwood. When the FBI men do call her number, Kelly is reluctant to answer, but finally does.



4. What are your wise ones generally advising? [The hero encounters a wise one.]
Ripley advises Kelly about his plan to protect her and that her phone will be monitored. Ripley and his men drive out to Kelly’s house and begin surveillance.



5. What are the pros and cons of the issue being decided? [The hero passes through the first threshold.]
The next morning Kelly drives Toby to school and instructs her to stay with her friend Dave instead of going into home alone. Toby agrees but reminds Kelly that they have been operating on the basis of no secrets between them. Kelly then leaves for the bank.



6. What are “The Powers That Be” saying? [The hero encounters tests and helpers.]
Ripley’s work on Kelly’s case is interrupted by the appearance of Nancy Ashton at his office. She tells him that her “friend” is in trouble with a terrible man and the friend fears being prosecuted for some serious crimes he is committing. Ripley handles her request professionally, but when she leaves she asks him out for a drink.

When Kelly arrives at the bank, her boss calls her into the conference room where Ripley is waiting. Kelly tells them it has been hard to adjust to the new circumstances and that she’s having trouble thinking. Except for the man’s voice, she cannot give Ripley a description of the man. Ripley gives instructions for her and Toby to follow, but warns her that this man will use a “reign of terror” to get what he wants. Kelly goes back to her teller’s position, starts up her regular work, but now is suspicious of customers as she listens to their voices more carefully.

Then a call comes in. It’s the man. He tells Kelly she has made a serious mistake and he will teach her a lesson. He knows that Kelly is swimming with the friend.

At the pool, Toby finds a note in her bathrobe. It’s for Kelly from the man telling her to meet him at the Roaring 20’s club.

7. What is your real agenda? [The hero reaches the inner sanctum.]
Nancy Ashton calls Ripley from her apartment and tells him that she has to see him, that her friend’s life is at stake, but when he comes he should not be shocked by her occupation (she works with naked manikins that hang throughout her apartment). Ashton then responds to a noise she thinks she hears by locking her door. She does not see among her manikins, the man (Ross Martin) standing motionless.

Meanwhile, Kelly speaks with Ripley again on the phone and then speaks with Toby about what’s really going on. Toby wants to know if Kelly thinks the man will really “do something.” Just then, the man calls Kelly, from Ashton’s apartment. All that is heard is the man’s asthmatic breathing.8. What facts and reasons are you contending with? [The hero endures the supreme ordeal.]When Ripley and his partner go to Ashton’s apartment, his partner finds her dead, hanging upside down. When a note in Ashton’s purse lists Kelly’s address on it, Ripley realizes the implications of the connection. He follows up a lead to a paid police informant by speaking to him at a movie theater. The informant, “Popcorn,” tells Ripley that Kelly will be used then killed.

After taking the man’s confirming call, Kelly goes to the Roaring 20’s Club. There she is picked up by a man she thinks is connected to the man, but it is a mistake. When she gets back home, the man calls her and they fight about what took place at the club.

Meanwhile, the FBI has run the asthmatic condition attribute against its criminal database and discovered Garland “Red” Lynch. FBI teams investigate, showing Red’s picture around the city. When they talk with a priest, he tells them that he saw the man with an oriental woman named Linda Soong. When they find Soong, she does not initially cooperate, but later does a bit on the advice of her lawyer. The FBI men follow Soong to a hospital where her son, Joey, recovers from a hip socket replacement. Ripley questions Joey and discovers that the man is known as Uncle Red. When Ripley and Soong confront each other about his talking with Joey, Soong wants Ripley never to interfere with her family again, saying Red has helped pay Joey’s hospital bills and Ripley “can go straight to hell” if he tries anymore.

9. What insights and oversights are emerging? [The hero seizes the sword.]
Kelley goes out to lunch with a friend. In disguise as a woman, Red confronts Kelly in the ladies’ room. Tells her the robbery will go down on Friday. Shows Kelly his gun. This meeting freaks her out.

Red calls Ripley’s office to try to find out whether the FBI knows about anything about Kelly. Ripley denies knowing, but is unable to trace the call.

Ripley and Kelly’s boss talk over the particulars of the “robbery” plan, but don’t tell Kelly the FBI knows about Red. Ripley meets Popcorn at the swimming pool so Popcorn will realize that there’s more involved in this than a great news story. Peoples’ lives are at stake: Kelly’s and Toby’s.

Popcorn finally agrees to give Ripley the information he needs, saying “this one’s on the house.” When Ripley and his partner go with Popcorn to stake out Red’s getaway accomplice, they get into a gunfight. The accomplice and Popcorn are both shot dead.



10. How are you going to tell your decision? [The hero takes the road back.]
Friday morning, the day of the bank robbery, Kelly and Toby drive off from their home.

Ripley visits Joey and his mother at the hospital where he’s undergoing swimming pool therapy. Joey tells Ripley about the stuffed tiger Red had given him. He finds it in Joey’s room.

Toby gets a call at her the “Hang Out” where she is waiting with her friends. It’s Red telling her that Kelly is hurt and that Kelly must go out the back exit and meet him on another street where he will pick her up. Toby believes Red’s story and leaves, with her friend and the FBI men unable to follow her.



11. What are you willing to risk in order to gain what you can only hope for? [The hero experiences a death and a resurrection.]
Red takes Toby to a decaying old room. When she complains that he told her Kelly was dying, Red tells her to “take your clothes off” and watches as she does. Red then calls Kelly at the bank and gives her more instructions, ending with “I’ve got Toby.” He touches Toby, but does not hurt her. Then he locks her in a spider-webbed closet.

At the bank, Kelly begins to load her purse with money. Kelly drives to Fishermen’s Wharf. Takes a phone call in a phone booth and gets instructions to take a taxi. In the taxi, the driver gives her a package that contains Toby’s clothes. With a helicopter overhead, the taxi makes its way to Candlestick Park where the Giants are playing the Angels.

Meanwhile some of the FBI agents have traced the stuffed tiger to a budget fur shop where the owner tells them where the tiger was delivered.



12. How do you determining that the decision you are discerning is the right one? [The hero returns with the elixir.]
When Ripley hears that Toby has been rescued by the FBI agents who went to the place where the tiger was delivered, he knows Red is acting alone. Plan B is put into effect. Kelly sees Ripley through some binoculars, but Red does not reveal himself until the game is over, the crowds are walking out, and he grabs Kelly in the middle of it all.

The chase is on at this point. The FBI men jump Red in the crowd and Kelly escapes his grasp. As Red runs off, Kelly is reunited with the rescued Toby.

Red finally goes onto the baseball field and runs to the mound where Don Larsen, the famed pitcher, had been throwing moments before. Beneath the lights of the helicopter, Red and Ripley exchange gunfire. Ripley kills Red.



© 2007 John Darrouzet

"Witness": Out of the Ordinary



Witness” seems, at first glance, to depict a story of the encounter of two contrasting ordinary worlds in 1984: the ordinary world of an Amish community and the world of Philadelphia. Rachel (Kelly McGillis) and her extended family personify the separated Amish world. John Book (Harrison Ford) and his extended family (especially his sister Elaine and his partner Sergeant Carter, but also his fellow policemen, boss Paul Schaeffer, McFee and Fergie) personify the world of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.

First a death and then a murder set up the encounter and take both Rachel and John out of their ordinary worlds. While the first death, of Rachel’s husband Jacob, seems of natural causes, the murder in the train station bathroom clearly wasn’t. Samuel’s witnessing it opens up the story to the adventure the story goes on to tell.

“Witness” seems to be a movie about having to make choices, rather than make judgments, or make decisions. For example, either life in the city or life on the farm. The culture of life versus the culture of death.

However, upon further exploration of the meaning of the story, at least four perspectives on life and the beginning bases for decisions we make in it are noteworthy.

The first perspective I notice I will call “value.” The Amish community and the City of Brotherly Love certainly present a contrast in what and who is valued. One prominent contrast is bartering, for lack of another word, in the Amish community as depicted in the barn raising versus pursuit of money whatever the costs as represented by the cops who have lost their meaning stealing drug chemicals worth $22 million. Eli’s character represents the Amish values and he is intent on teaching them to Samuel.

The second perspective I will call “mission.” The Amish community’s mission is to save John from dying and bring him back to life. John’s is to seek justice, i.e., protect Rachel and Samuel from the bad cops and expose the killers of his partner. The mission of the bad cops is to avoid the exposure.

The third perspective I will call “purpose.” In the City of Brotherly Love, Rachel and Samuel experience lives with very different purposes than theirs. For example, compare their happy valley with the “Happy Valley” bar. Once in the Amish community, John experiences a community life with a clearly different purpose. For example, “whacking” is not a normally useful skill on a farm.

The fourth perspective I will call “vision.” Samuel personifies vision. He sees the statue of the archangel Michael bearing the soul of a fallen soldier (
Angel of Resurrection) in the train station before he sees the murder in the bathroom. When John is pulled out of Elaine’s car by Eli, the image of the fallen warrior is repeated. Though John tells Samuel to run to Daniel’s farm for help, when shots are fired Samuel knows to come back. Eli does not tell him to pull the bell, he shows him with a hand signal. And, finally, John shows Samuel to Schaeffer in the end, asking him if he’s going to kill the boy too.

Viewing “Witness” from these four perspectives, “value,” “mission,” “purpose,” and “vision,” I see this story as a beginning point to decision-making because it helps us become conscious of our own ordinary worlds and some of the matters we must all face when we are called out of them.

When we do become aware of the differences, it seems that if we approach issues as a matter of choice, we are talking “either/or.” For example, John Book tells Rachel that if they had made love the night before, either he would have to stay or she would have to leave.

For sure in our blogs or comments, we will discuss the “either/or” approach, especially in contrast to the approach of “both/and.” “
High Noon” seems to take the former approach. “It’s A Wonderful Life” seems to take the latter one.

What I like about “Witness” is that it well depicts and personifies the first stage of discovering a key feature of the Decision-Maker’s Path. For me that feature is that “where we are coming from” is a realization that our ordinary world is somehow dis-integrating.

Once we see ourselves in that position, we know we are at the beginning of a process that will call on us to make a decision. I don't see John or Rachel ready to make a decision to integrate their lives. Though they tasted it, within the terms of the story, they chose not to go beyond that and slipped back into their separate, ordinary worlds. No doubt Eli was happy with this, as was Daniel. But what about Samuel?

Is Samuel's vision of the world changed forever? Does he not have new insights into what is valuable, what mission he may be called on to undertake in life, what his purpose is as he relates to others, and what his future is going to be like?

When we identify with him, we face the dis-integration he has witnessed and the task of integrating all of what he has learned that I believe only making decisions will achieve.

Perhaps like Samuel, at the beginning of the path to a decision, we may want to take on the role of the fool, not like Uncle Billy's "silly, stupid, old fool" but rather like George Bailey when he is reborn in "It's A Wonderful Life": fun, insightful, and young at heart.

What do you think?


© 2007 John Darrouzet

Friday, October 26, 2007

Are you playing with a full deck when you argue for change?



When I get into arguments about change, not heated ones if possible, but deliberate ones, I sometimes feel like I’m playing cards with the other participants. Some participants play their hands like we’re playing bridge, while others seem to want to play poker.

To help me keep things straight I have pulled together the various types of arguments that I have run into (and with the help of Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument) over the years and have assigned them to various cards in a normal modern deck of playing cards. I have tried to place a “Reasonable Argument” alongside a “Counterfeit Argument.”

So to answer the question of whether one is playing with a full deck in an argument about change, you may want to consider this deck before claiming you are.
In any case, please let me know what you think.

Thanks.

John

PS: Just in case this effort becomes too serious for you, take a break and watch this Monty Python Argument Clinic.


John's Argument Card Deck

Card/Counterfeit Argument/Reasonable Argument

Clubs
2 Clubs: Unnecessary Vagueness/Desirable Clarity
3 Clubs: Colored Words/Descriptive Words
4 Clubs: Idiosyncratic Language (Jargon)/Common Terms
5 Clubs: Ambiguous Terms/Defined Terms
6 Clubs: Ambiguous Accent/Deliberate Accent
7 Clubs: Misuse of Word Roots (Etymology)/Appropriate Word Root
8 Clubs: Hidden Personification/True Characterization
9 Clubs: Over-Precision/Sufficient Accuracy
10Clubs:Word Magic/Significant Words
J Clubs: Ambiguous Punctuation or Word Order/Clarifying Punctuation & Order
Q Clubs: Reification/Authentication
K Clubs: Double Talk/Plain Talk
A Clubs: Lip Service/Verifiable Communication

Diamonds
2 Diamonds: Composition and Division/Structure and Integration
3 Diamonds: The Undistributed Middle Term/Proper Link of Beginning to End
4 Diamonds: Suppressed Quantification/Expressed Quantification
5 Diamonds: Trouble with Conditionals and Alternatives/Clarified Conditions
6 Diamonds: Circular Definitions and Question Begging/SMART Definitions
7 Diamonds: Faulty Causal Generalization/Proven, Specific Causation
8 Diamonds: Assuming the Cause (“Post hoc reasoning”)/Examine the Cause
9 Diamonds: Unrepresentative Generalization/Representative Generalization
10Diamonds: False Conversion of Propositions/Correct Proposition Conversion
J Diamonds: Non-Exhaustive Classification/Exclusive Classification
QDiamonds: False Dilemma/True Dilemma
KDiamonds: Non Sequitur/Follows Logically
A Diamonds: Faulty Analogy/Acceptable Analogy

Hearts
2 Hearts: Appeal to Tradition or Faith/Appreciate Tradition and Faith
3 Hearts: Relativism/Significantly Coherent Relations
4 Hearts: Demand for Special Consideration/Request Proportional Consideration
5 Hearts: Appeal to Authority/Respect for Authority
6 Hearts: Red Herring (“Insistence on Irrelevancies”)/Relevancy
7 Hearts: Self-Righteousness/Self-Governance
8 Hearts: Impress with Large Numbers/Appreciate Numbers
9 Hearts: Pointing to Another Wrong/Focus on Correct Wrong
10 Hearts: Gambler’s Mistake/Understand the Odds
J Hearts: Impossible Conditions/Possible Conditions
Q Hearts: Wishful Thinking/Hopeful Thinking
K Hearts: The Wicked Alternative/The Common Good Alternative
A Hearts: Finding the “Good” Reason/Sound Reasoning

Spades
2 Spades: Pomp and Circumstance/Sincere Celebration
3 Spades: Invincible Ignorance (“Apriorism”)/Invincible Truth
4 Spades: Popular Passions/Compassion for People
5 Spades: Cultural Bias/Appreciation of Cultures
6 Spades: Consider the Source/Benefit of the Doubt
7 Spades: Having It Both Ways/Principle of Non-Contradiction
8 Spades: Creating Misgivings/Passing Over and Returning
9 Spades: Personal Attack (“Ad Hominem”)/Personal Support
10 Spades: Nothing but Objections/Loyal Opposition
J Spades: Forestalling Disagreement/Accepting Disagreement
Q Spades: All or Nothing/Compromise ("Something may be better than nothing")
K Spades: Humor and Ridicule/Laughter with, not at
A Spades: Abandonment of the Discussion/Renewed Discussion

Joker: Misleading Myth/Paradoxical Mystery
Joker: Fallacious Lie/Evident Fact

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Do you know of a better way to read a book to help you make a decision to change?


When working on a decision, you often want to gather your resource books and films and see how they can help. Below is my summary of the basics offerred in the classic How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren.

1. Read actively for information, for understanding, for learning via instruction and discovery from present and absent teachers.


2. With elementary reading skills assumed, read next at the inspectional level by:

(a) looking at the title page and, if the book has one, at its preface;

(b) studying the table of contents;

(c) checking the index;

(d) reading the publisher's blurb;

(e) looking at the chapters that seem to be pivotal to the book's argument; and

(f) turning pages, dipping in here and there, reading a paragraph or two, sometimes several pages in sequence, never more than that.

3. Follow inspectional reading with superficial reading of the entire book as quick as possible.

4. Ask these four basic questions:

(a) What is the book about as a whole?

(b) What is being said in detail and how?

(c) Is the book true in whole or in part?

(d) What of it?

5. Make the book your own via structural note-taking, i.e.:

(a) underlining;

(b) vertical lines at the margin;

(c) stars or astericks at the margin;

(d) numbers in the margin;

(e) numbers of other pages in the margins;

(f) cirlcing of key words or phrases; and

(g) writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page.

6. Pigeonhole the book by determining what kind of book you are reading before you begin to read, if possible.

7. X-ray the book by:

(a) stating the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences (a short paragraph);

(b) by setting forth the major parts of the book and showing how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole; and by

(c) finding out what the author's problems were.

8. Come to "terms" with the author by finding the important words and through them the "terms" with the author.

9. Determine the author's message by:

(a) recognizing sentences and propositions are different; propositions are the answers to questions;

(b) marking the most imporant sentences in a book and discovering the propositions they contain;

(c) locating or constructing the basic argument in the book by finding them in the connection of the sentences; and

(d) finding out what the author's solutions are.

10. Criticize the book fairly by:

(a) remembering that you must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, "I understand," before you can say any one of the following things: "I agree," or "I disagree," or "I suspend judgment";

(b) remembering that when you disagree, to do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously; and

(c) respecting the difference between knowledge and mere personal opnion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make.

11. Agree or disagree with the author, after saying "I understand but I disagree," by adding:

(a) "You are uninformed" or

(b) "You are misinformed" or

(c) "You are illogical --- your reasoning is not cogent" or

(d) "Your analysis is incomplete and thus I suspend my judgment."

12. Read syntopically, that is by bringing the relevant passages of several books to an issue, reading them in the manner described above, comparing them, and using them to help support your own proposition about the issue in question.

Do you know if a better way?

Thanks.

John

What insight about change and decision-making do you see portrayed in the movie "Witness"?


Given the Hero's Journey as exemplified in "High Noon" and the Decision-Maker's Path as exemplified in "It's A Wonderful Life," what are your insights into the way the ordinary world, as depicted in the movie "Witness," impacts our ability to manage change in the midst of making a decision?

Of the characters presented in "Witness," who do you identify with?

Who changes in the movie and what does that character decide?

Enjoy watching the movie and thanks for participating.

My summary of the story is found here.



John

Witness


By combining the organization approaches used in our treatment of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “High Noon”, we can see the two approaches of the Hero’s Journey and the Decision-Maker’s Path simultaneously at work in “Witness”.

1. Where are you coming from? [The hero is seen in his or her ordinary world.]
In rural Pennsylvania, where time seems to stand still in the face of modern progress and urban life, the Amish community conducts a funeral and wake for Jacob, husband of Rachel (Kelly McGillis) and father of Samuel (Lucas Haas). Daniel (Boris Gudunov), who is interested in Rachel, pays his respects at the wake and later at the train station encourages Rachel to come back from her trip with Samuel to visit her sister in Baltimore. Rachel’s father, Eli, tells her to “be careful among the English.” Daniel boldly races alongside the train with his horse-drawn wagon so Rachel and Samuel see him.

In Philadelphia, Rachel and Samuel must wait for the connecting train to Baltimore. While Rachel sits and waits, Samuel explores the station, finding someone with a similar hat, but is more likely Jewish than Amish, and then spends moments staring at a statue of the archangel Michael bearing the soul of a fallen soldier (
Angel of Resurrection). Then Samuel steps into the restroom, where a man is washing. Samuel goes into a stall, only to see the man get attacked by two men. A Black man (Danny Glover) in a suit stabs to death the man who was washing; then, hearing a small noise from Samuel, searches for him. Samuel locks his stall and slips under the separation wall to another that the killer has already checked.

The Philadelphia police arrive to investigate the murder. John Book (Harrison Ford) is the homicide captain who talks with Samuel who says the killer was a big black man, not small like Book’s partner Sergeant Carter.

2. Where are you wanting to go? [The hero is called to adventure.]
Rachel’s protests (“…we want nothing to do with your laws”) go unheeded. Samuel is a material witness and they must stay and try to help identify the killer. Book drives Rachel and Samuel to the “Happy Valley” bar where he and Carter bring out a possible suspect. Then Book takes them to stay overnight with his sister Elaine. Elaine complains privately and tells Book to “keep your holier than thou” mouth shut when he reprimands her about having her boyfriend sleep over when her young children are upstairs.

3. What are you waiting for? [The hero is reluctant.]
The next day Book takes Rachel and Samuel to a line-up. Samuel doesn’t I.D. anyone as the killer. When they break for lunch, Rachel tells Book of various personal information Elaine has told her about him, including that he doesn’t have a family or children of his own. When they return for Samuel to look at mug shots, Book takes a call and Samuel walks around the office. Stops in front of a trophy case, recognizes the man in the newspaper article, McFee (Glover), as the killer, and points him out to Book.

4. What are your wise ones generally advising? [The hero encounters a wise one.]

Book goes to his boss, Paul Schaeffer, and tells him about McFee and the connection to the killing. The man killed was a police officer. There is $22 million in illegal drug chemicals tied into this. Book assures Paul that no one else knows about this revelation but the two of them. Paul will take care of bringing in FBI, etc.

5. What are the pros and cons of the issue being decided? [The hero passes through the first threshold.]
As Book steps into a parking garage to retrieve his car, McFee approaches. They get into a gunfight. Though McFee drives off, Book has been hit. Book returns to his sister’s home, gets Rachel and Samuel, and tells his sister not to tell anyone anything. Book calls Carter and tells him to take all the paperwork out of the files on this case. Tells him to watch his back. Using Elaine’s car, Book drives Rachel and Samuel to Eli’s farm. Book tells Rachel that there will be no trial, then tries to leave. But his wound is too much, with the loss of blood, and he passes out, running into a birdhouse. Eli pulls Book out of the car in a way that reminds us of the Angel of Resurrection statue.

6. What are “The Powers That Be” saying? [The hero encounters tests and helpers.]
The Amish community helps John Book with his wound; store the car out of sight in a small barn; and Rachel nurses him back to health, realizing that if Book dies, they will have to dispose of the body or Samuel will be found.

Meanwhile, Schaeffer tries to find Book via police connections only to discover that there are many Lapps in the community, no phones, and thus no easy way to do it.

When John is able to get up, Samuel enters his room and finds John’s gun. John finds him with it, he tells Samuel in no uncertain terms that he should never handle the gun, especially when it’s loaded. But Rachel doesn’t come into the room until afterwards. She reprimands John. Eli later talks with Samuel about the dangers of the “gun of the hand.” When Samuel says he would kill a bad man, Eli asks him if he is capable of knowing what’s in another man’s heart. Samuel says he knows what they do. Then Eli quotes scripture: “Come out from among them and be ye separate.”

John, in plain Amish clothes, but with his gun that he has retrieved from Rachel, goes into town with Eli and Samuel. Then he calls Carter and discovers it’s “too hot” for him to come back in yet.

When Eli sees that John is up to working on his car, he gets him to help by having him milk the cows at 4:30 AM. After breakfast, Daniel comes to see Rachel, introducing himself to John. In exchange of looks, the two men realize they are rivals for Rachel’s affections.

7. What is your real agenda? [The hero reaches the inner sanctum.]

At night, John and Rachel sit in the car and an oldie, Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World, comes on the car radio (“Don't know much about history/ Don't know much biology/ Don't know much about a science book / Don't know much about the French I took/ But I do know that I love you/ And I know that if you love me too/ What a wonderful world this would be…”). John dances with Rachel and she enjoys it, as does he. Then Eli finds them and warns Rachel that the community is talking, that they may shun her. When he suggests this would be shameful, she responds that he would rather be judging her.

8. What facts and reasons are you contending with? [The hero endures the supreme ordeal.]
Meanwhile, Schaeffer meets with Carter trying to get him to tell where Book is. He laughs at the concept of Book praying with the Amish.

John’s carpentry skills are contributed to a day-long barn raising by the community. He is accepted for his efforts and the community eats a meal together to support during their hard work.

Schaeffer suggests to Carter that the police are a “cult” like the Amish, a club, and that what Book is doing is breaking the rules.

9. What insights and oversights are emerging? [The hero seizes the sword.]
At the end of the day, John watches Rachel retire. She takes a sponge bath and John sees her. When she turns to reveal herself unashamedly, John lowers his head.

10. How are you going to tell your decision? [The hero takes the road back.]
The next morning John finds Rachel and tells he that if they had made love the night before, either he would have to stay or she would have to leave.

11. What are you willing to risk in order to gain what you can only hope for? [The hero experiences a death and a resurrection.]
Into the town full of camera-toting tourists, John goes the Amish men. He speaks out of character to a tourist trying to take his picture. (“You take my picture and I’ll rip off your bra and hang you with it…”) He tries to call Carter again, but is referred to the police department’s public relations office. Carter was killed “in the line of duty” the night before.

John calls Schaeffer and tells him that he is coming after Schaeffer because he knows what happened to Carter. He repeats to Schaeffer the words Schaeffer had told him once before: “You’ve lost the meaning.”

With this information fresh in his mind, he starts to ride back to the farm with the Amish, when the horse-drawn wagons are stopped by some local toughs who want to test the Amish men. John does not heed Eli’s way, but rather confronts the toughs’ leader saying the tough has made a mistake. The tough doesn’t get it, but he does when John hits him in the nose and fights off several others. A local citizen is aghast at this behavior. Daniel claims John is a cousin from Ohio. The citizen informs a police officer after John and the others leave, saying: “This is not good for the tourist trade.”

12. How do you determining that the decision you are discerning is the right one? [The hero returns with the elixir.]
Rachel sees Samuel playing with a toy John has made him. She sees him putting the birdhouse back in place. She talks with Eli who tells her John is leaving the next day. (“Going back to nothing”; “where he belongs”)

At twilight, Rachel takes off her Amish bonnet and runs out to John in the field. They embrace and kiss each other passionately, Rachel in tears.

Then over the hill comes Schaeffer, McFee, and Fergie. They pull their guns out of the trunk and make their way to the farm house. McFee bursts into the kitchen where Rachel and Eli are standing. Schaeffer enters, tells them he’s the police and he’s after Book, not Samuel. When Schaeffer takes them outside, Eli yells out “Book.”

John hurries to get Samuel out the back and tells him to run to Daniel’s farm. Samuel hesitates when he hears Fergie shooting. John then evades Fergie in the car barn; climbs into the corn silo; and opens the container on top of Fergie, suffocating him. He digs Fergie’s shot gun out from the pile of corn just in time to deal with McFee with a single blast.

Just as Schaeffer is taking Eli and Rachel outside to find out what’s happening, Rachel and Eli see that Samuel has returned to the house. As Eli follows Rachel through the door to the outside, Eli signals to Samuel to pull ring the bell for the community to come help.

Despite Schaeffer’s call for Samuel to stop ringing the bell, it continues. Schaeffer uses Rachel as a shield as he goes into the barn after John. After screaming at each other, to no avail, John drops his weapon so Schaeffer will not harm Rachel.

When they arrive outside, Eli, Daniel, Samuel and the community have taken their stand in front of the exit. When they do not heed Schaeffer’s claims of authority as a police officer, John confronts him, asking who else will he kill to get his way. (“It’s over. Enough.”) John takes Schaeffer’s gun from him. Schaeffer turns away from the community and goes down on his knees.

When the large police crime scene team has left, and after John says goodbye to Samuel, he and Rachel stand with a closed screen door between them. She has her Amish bonnet on. They do not speak. She watches him leave. Eli tells John to “be careful among the English.”

As John drives away in his sister’s car, he brakes momentarily when he comes upon Daniel who is walking toward Rachel’s home.




© 2007 John Darrouzet



Wednesday, October 24, 2007

What insight about change and decision-making do you see portrayed in the movie "It's A Wonderful Life"?


Of the characters presented, whom do you identify with?

Who changes in the movie and what does that character decide?

See what others have to say on LinkedIn.

Enjoy watching the free movie and thanks for participating.

See my comments below by clicking here.

John

WHY: Is integrity really important?

Dear Wei,

You ask:

"WHY: Is integrity really important?

"I see some companies using Integrity as part of their company's names or company's values. When people are praised by someone "you have high integrity", we are extremely happy, aren't we ? Is integrity really important for individual and for company?

1) Yes
2) No
3) Maybe, depends...

"Thanks in advance for your participation!

"Wei"

"Clarification added 1 day ago:

"I was 'coached' by person A... "Wei, I agree with you that is a wrong decision, however, he is my boss, I just obey what he says." Of course person A granted many promotions within a short period of time, but the company lost many talented people and beyond...

"Clarification added 9 hours ago:

"This question was mentioned by my friend Mark Amtower in his blog this morning http://amtower.typepad.com/epiphany/

I answer as follows:

I tried to put this answer on LinkedIn, but it wouldn’t take it. Too long. So here is my full response:

Imagine a group of eight people sitting around a table, unconsciously across from their chief opponents because, as individuals and as a group, they are dis-integrated individually and dysfunctional interpersonally.

The person seated at the north end is MICHAEL, a fatherly type but stagnant.


On the south is MICHELLE, a motherly type who is more resigned than truly.

To the west is GEORGIA , a middle-aged woman, who has just completed a major project but is somewhat let down as a result.

On the east is GEORGE, a middle-aged man, who has yet to complete his project.

On the north-west is JOANNE , a young woman, who has experienced a recent decrease in attention from the opposite sex.

On the south-east sits JOE, a young man, who is just experiencing the prospects of a bachelor's first courtship.

On the south-west side is ROCKY, a seasoned veteran, who has just scored a major coup.

Across from him is ROXANNE, a seasoned veteran herself but one who continues to endure a major situation: how to help Joe.

Their discussion about integrity might flow like this:

MICHAEL (to Rocky): “I can remember when we were innocent and trusted a man at his word.”

JOE (to George): “Yeah, but how does he explain the ‘youthful follies’ he’s always bragging about.”

ROXANNE: “Talking about bragging, how’s your family, Georgia?”

MICHAEL: “Let’s not get distracted with family. Can’t we at least talk about us and the community sitting at this table instead?”

MICHELLE (to Rocky): ”Well, Georgia heard from Joe today that a stranger named Wei had the audacity to raise the issue of whether integrity is important. Joe said Wei asked him whether he wanted to take a course of action without integrity? Can you believe that?"

MICHAEL (to Joanne): “Everybody better step lightly around this issue. Political correctness and marriage go hand and hand.

GEORGIA: “Here we go again.”

JOANNE: “Somebody got a problem with that? So we’re split. Opposition is good for what ails you, just like doubt.”

ROCKY (To Joe): “It’s a problem of the level of power the weak have in matters of integrity.”

JOE (to Georgia): “Not, really. It’s the importance of wealth.”

GEORGIA: “There are greater things to possess than wealth.”

JOE: “Rocky, your concerns are obstacles easily overcome.”

MICHAEL: “Better retreat, buddy.”

MICHELLE: “Time to contemplate the consequences. Listen to Roxanne.”

ROXANNE: “Maybe we need to allow Joe’s sense of integrity to develop gradually. Do it gradually and his confidence will build up. His sense of integrity will emerge naturally.”

GEORGE (to Joanne): “The pursuit of integrity must be measured.”

MICHELLE: “It's all a matter of approach.”

GEORGIA: “Only progress is important.”

JOANNE: “Maybe we should gather some opinions from Joe’s friends on LinkedIn, but I’d have to flag Roxanne’s answer as soon as she posts it. She irks me a lot.”

GEORGIA (to Michelle): “Can you try to hold the discussion together?”

MICHELLE: “I have my networking army at the ready.”

GEORGIA (to Rocky): “Well, I’m not sure we can bite through that onslaught without Rocky focusing us on our own real agenda concerning integrity.”

GEORGE (to Roxanne): “Going to the ‘well’ again. Deep subjects on the way.”

ROXANNE (to Michael): “There is such a thing as domination by weakness, feigning ignorance for example.”

JOE (to Michael): “ And there’s domination by strength, feigning knowledge, as well.”

ROXANNE: “Either kind of attempt at domination leads only to dissolution not solutions.”

MICHAEL (to George): “Must we endure conflicting opinions, then, inevitably about something as straight forward as integrity?” (to Roxanne): “Must we continuously grant concessions?”

ROCKY (to Michael): “Depends on how many rounds the power of the strong can go, I believe.”

JOANNE (to George): “You all are exhausting me with all of your opinions.”

GEORGE (to Michael): “Perhaps we want to wait for an answer to emerge that brings us together rather than force us further apart.”

JOANNE (to Michael): “I want a breakthrough, not a choice among your pre-determined alternatives or your judgments based on assumptions I don’t agree with.” (to Georgia): “Is that so revolutionary?”

JOE (to Roxanne): “I think it calls for a sense of renewal about what integrity means among each and every one of us.” (To Rocky): “You’re the horse around here. We want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

ROCKY (to Joanne): “Integrity is what everyone wants when they, like Joe, are encountering the marrying girl.”

MICHELLE (to Joe): “More modesty from the young bachelor. That’s what I’d like to see.”

JOE (to Georgia): “Hard to be modest when she’s beauty incarnate.” (To Michelle): “So, are you saying you do not want me to marry her without me examining my integrity first?”

MICHELLE (to Georgia): “He doesn’t seem to get it. I’m saying that without integrity, your love is likely being eclipsed by your lust.”

GEORGIA (to Roxanne): “Perhaps he’s willing to sacrifice her integrity.”

MICHELLE (to Rocky): “Then we’re at the final turning point in our conversation.”

ROCKY (to George): “Well, that’s a relief. At least now we know why Wei brought up the question to Joe in the first place. Joe’s the one who really wants the answer.”

JOANNE (to Rocky): “Joe’s all yours now, my friend. He has a lot to learn before getting married.”

MICHELLE (to Roxanne): “We all have room to grow. Striving upwards, right?”

ROCKY (to Michelle): “Now, to raise this young man our village’s task is a matter of executing with the kind of enthusiasm that signals we have reached the right decision. Let’s go, Joe.”

All participants smile.


Georgia’s let down transformed into a sense of attachment to the group.

George no longer fears the abyss of his project having found some friends who will help talk him through it.

Joanne’s recent decrease in attention has been transformed into a sense of serenity about Joe and his courtship.

For the first time Joe‘s courtship is taking on meaning as he is learning how to keep still about it long enough to respect it for what it wants to be.

Rocky is only beginning to deal with the shock of what he is now having to undertake on behalf of the group, and Joe in particular, in coaching the young man about the demands of integrity in his upcoming marriage.

Roxanne’s endurance transforms into a gentle penetration into Joe’s heart.

Michelle’s resignation transformed into eventual receptivity.

By means of his starting the discussion, Michael transformed stagnation into creativity.

In the end, the participants leave shaking hands with their chief supporters because, as individuals and as a group, they are integrated individually and functional interpersonally.

Yes, integrity is very important.

Integrity is at the heart of every individual and every group.

Integrity is what issues challenge and decisions lead to.

Thanks for the opportunity to write on this.

Your friend,

John

Thursday, October 11, 2007

What is the best way to help someone change?


On the LinkedIn Q/A, I asked the question set out above and included the following comments.

"Soren Kierkegaard in his book "The Point of View for my Work as an Author" suggests what he sees as the best way to work with someone caught up in an illusion, much like the approach of Socrates, is as follows:

"...A direct attack only strengthens a person in his illusion, and at the same time embitters him. There is nothing that requires such gentle handling as an illusion, if one wishes to dispel it. If anything prompts the prospective captive to set his will in opposition, all is lost. And this is why a direct attack achieves, and it implies moreover the presumption of requiring a man to make to another person, or in his presence, an admission which he can make most profitably to himself privately. This is what is achieved by the indirect method which, loving and serving the truth, arranges everything dialectically for the prospective captive, and then shyly withdraws (for love is always shy), so as not to witness the admission which he makes to himself alone before God --- that he has loved hitherto in an illusion.

"...if real success is to attend the effort to bring a man to a definite position, one must first of all take pains to find him where he is and begin there. This is the secret art of helping others. Anyone who has not mastered this is himself deluded when he proposes to help others. In order to help another effectively I must understand what he understands. If I do not know that, my greater understanding will be of no help to him...all true effort to help begins with self-humiliation: the helper must first humble himself under him he would help, and therewith must understand that to help does not mean to be a sovereign but to be a servant, that to help does not mean to be ambitious but to be patient, that to help means to endure for the time being the imputation that one is in the wrong and does not understand what the other understands.

"Take the case of a man who is passionately angry, and let us assume that he is really in the wrong. Unless you can begin with him by making it seem as if it were he that had to instruct you, and unless you can do it in such a way that the angry man, who was too impatient to listen to a word of yours, is glad to discover a complaisant and attentive listener --- if you cannot do that, you cannot help him at all...if you cannot humble yourself, you are not genuinely serious. Be the amazed listener who sits and hears what the other finds the more delight in telling you because you listen with amazement... If you can do that, if you can find exactly the place where the other is and begin there, you may perhaps have the luck to lead him to the place where you are. For to be a teacher does not mean simply to affirm that such a thing is so, or to deliver a lecture, etc. No, to be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner, put yourself in his place so that you may understand what he understands in the way he understands it.

"Do you agree with SK? Do you have a different approach to educating others in the sense of leading them out of an illusion? Your participation is appreciated."

I received many answers. You may read them by following this link.

The question is a new form of the age-old questions about whether virtue can be taught and how to live the good life.

One of my hero’s is Socrates as portrayed in the dialogue’s of Plato. These dramatic dialogues help me see how Socrates lived the decisions of his life.

Please consider reading the following summaries, if not the dialogues themselves, as posted on Wikipedia, in the order I have set out below and let me know what you think.




1. Where are we coming from?
2. Where do we want to go?
3. What are we waiting for?
4. What do our wise ones generally advise?
5. What are the pros and cons of going forward?
6. What are the “Powers That Be“ saying?
7. What is our true agenda?
8. What are the facts and reasons we are contending with?
9. What insights and oversights are emerging?
10. How are we telling our story?
11. What are we willing to risk to gain what we can only hope for?
12. How do we know the decision we discern is the right one?

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

What insight about change and decision-making do you see portrayed in the movie "High Noon"?


Of the characters presented, who do you identify with? Who changes in the movie and what does that character decide?

See over 100 reviews on Amazon.

See Wikipedia article on the movie.

See what others have to say on LinkedIn.

Enjoy watching the movie and thanks for participating.

John

"It's A Wonderful Life": Example of the Decision-Maker's Path




The first perspective I presented in my blog on High Noon was that of the hero’s journey. Because the hero’s journey and the decision-maker’s path are important to my approaches to helping people learn more about decision-making, in this blog I show how the milestones of the decision-maker’s path help organize, by a series of questions, the inner plot of the story of a decision. In my blog on High Noon, I addressed the way that movie illustrates the hero’s journey.

So using
It’s A Wonderful Life and Jimmy Stewart’s hero character, “George Bailey” as the decision-maker in this example, let me briefly suggest how the decision-maker’s path works.

1. Where are you coming from? George Bailey lives in the small town of Bedford Falls. The son of Peter Bailey, executive secretary of the local building and loan association, 12-year-old George saves his younger brother Harry from drowning. Saving Harry has the physical consequence of injuring his hearing and George becomes deaf in one ear.

Nevertheless, he is able to work in Mr. Gower’s drugstore where two young girls, Mary and Violet stake their claims on him, despite his early indication of his desire to travel the globe. Mary even whispers into George’s deaf ear that she will love him until the day she dies.

When Mr. Gower, overwrought with sadness at the death of his son in the war, nearly poisons an ill patient by dispensing the wrong medicine, George reads the all the signs (“Ask Dad – he knows”) and seeks out his dad’s help. But Peter Bailey is too busy fending off the continuing attempts of the richest, but handicapped, banker Henry Potter who is trying to take over the building and loan association. George defends his dad against Potter’s charges and then saves another family’s child by returning to the drugstore and responding to Mr. Gower’s mistaken accusations. Although Mr. Gower hits George on his sore ear, George shows deep Mr. Gower compassion, forgiveness, and a purity of heart well beyond his years.

2. Where are you wanting to go? So nine years later, when George prepares to pursue his dream of escaping Bedford Falls and traveling to faraway paradises in the world, Mr. Gower gives him a new suitcase embossed with “George Bailey” on it. George proudly walks home, carrying his luggage and meets with his family for one last meal before he leaves.

His tired father asks George if he is coming back to the building and loan association after his trips.

3. What are you waiting for? George wants to do something big and important and lead a different life than his father.

4. What are your wise ones generally advising? Rather than stay with his saddened father whom he belatedly admits is a great guy, George goes to his brother Harry’s graduation and high school reunion.

There Mary’s brother urges George to dance with Mary, despite the protests of another young man. When George and Mary see each other across the dance floor, they exchange looks of budding love across the dance floor. When George and Mary enter the big Charleston contest, they are so taken with each other and their dancing they fail to realize that the young Othello is getting his revenge by activating the device that splits the basketball court dance floor in half. George and Mary fall into the pool, followed by others and eventually even the principal in a display of spontaneous joy.

Once sufficiently dry, in borrowed clothing, (George as a athlete, Mary in a bathrobe), they make their way toward Mary’s home singing “Buffalo Girl, Won’t You Come Out Tonight?” (“…a dance by the light of the moon.”) George stops them in front of the old Grandville home. Making his wishes by the hatful, he successfully throws a rock through a window. When Mary accomplished the same feat, she does not reveal her wish. George, thinking she is the prettiest girl in town, carries on saying he would lasso the moon and give it to Mary if she wanted it. A neighbor, hearing this effusive offer, asks George why he doesn’t just kiss Mary. But when he tries, Mary turns and runs off. But George accidentally steps on the bathrobes belt which forces Mary to hide herself in a nearby bush. Though Mary asks for the robe back, George debates with himself over this opportunity.

5. What are the pros and cons of the issue being decided? But before he can act on his thoughts about Mary, word arrives that his father is suffering from a stroke. George gives up his trip abroad to help straighten out his father’s business.

At a meeting of the board of the building and loan association, Potter makes the case for closing the association now that Peter Bailey is dead. George makes an impassioned plea for them not to do so to save the townspeople from Potter’s miserly grasp. Out of George’s presence, the Board sides against Potter and agrees not to dissolve the association on the condition that George succeed his father as the executive secretary.

6. What are “The Powers That Be” saying? So while Harry goes off to college and becomes a football hero, George stays in Bedford Falls and runs the building and loan. The next time George sees Harry, Harry is coming home to present his new wife Ruth to the family and tell them of his plans to go work for her father. This dissolves George’s hope of Harry taking over and letting George follow his dreams.

Seeing Harry happy with his new wife, George’s mother encourages George to strike up a relationship with Mary again. George goes over to Mary’s house where she has “Buffalo Gal” playing and a picture of George lassoing the moon. George’s discomfort brings them to fighting words. When he leaves, Mary breaks the record.

Then their old friend Sam Wainwright calls. Mary’s mother wants Sam to win Mary’s hand, but Sam is only playing. When George comes back to retrieve his hat, Mary alerts Sam and Sam pitches a deal to him, a chance of a life time. But standing so close to the phone together, the power of love between the George and Mary becomes irresistible. They pull each other in and take another chance. (George’s “I want to do what I want to do” becomes “I do.”)

7. What is your real agenda? Their wedding, on a rainy day, is shortly thereafter. After the wedding, with a handful of saved cash, George and Mary head for their honeymoon and a trip to paradise, only to be stopped by a run on the banks and the building and loan.

Potter calls his loan to the building and loan association and Uncle Billy pays him all the association’s cash. Again reading a sign from his father (“All you can take with you is that which you can give away.”), George faces the shareholders and explains how their money is invested in each other’s homes and cannot be paid out. They must have faith in each other.

But it is Mary who saves the day by providing their honeymoon money to George so he can help everyone get past the bank closing. At the close of business, George takes the last two dollars to the safe in a mock bedding ceremony where he encourages the two bills to propagate overnight.

Then he remembers his new wife. He rushes to 320 Sycamore, the address where the rocks were thrown and their wishes made. Mary and their friends have decorated the walls with posters of various travel destinations. There, in the leaky home, he finds Mary waiting for him with a romantic dinner and the revelation that this home with him is what she had wished for many years before.

8. What facts and reasons are you contending with? So successful is George’s effort that he is able to help Mr. Martini move out of Potterville where he was renting a house and into Bailey Park. Sam Wainwright and new wife arrive to see this home warming and invite George and Mary to come with them on a car trip. But George and Mary know that’s not in the cards.

Potter’s advisor presents the facts of the growing attractiveness of the new homes. So Potter invites George to his office. Smokes cigars with him. Flatters him about how well he’s doing. Seems to know what George wants out of life and the trap that Bedford Falls represents. Offers George a job for $20,000 a year for three years if George will sell out. When George hesitates, Potter suggests George is afraid of success.

9. What insights and oversights are emerging? Then George shakes Potter’s hand. Feels something strange about it. Realizes he’s touched a “scurvy spider” and rejects the offer.

George returns home and discovers Mary is pregnant with the first of four children: Pete, Janey, Zuzu, and Tommy.

Throughout these child-bearing years, Mary proceeds to work on renovating their home. While Harry goes off to war and becomes a hero, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor, because of George’s loss of hearing, he becomes the air raid warden for Bedford Falls and the leader of the paper drive.

10. How are you going to tell your decision? On December 24, 1945, at 10:00 AM, when the local newspaper arrives with the front-page headline about Harry’s winning the award, George in contrast is confronted with Carter the bank examiner. In a celebrative mood, George jokingly tells Carter “We are broke” as they go into the examination.

Meanwhile, George’s Uncle Billy takes the $8,000 in a deposit envelope to Potter’s bank. There, while bragging to Potter about Harry’s award, showing him by grabbing Potter’s paper, he accidently hands over the money envelope to Potter in the fold of the paper he returns to him. Potter rolls away in his wheel chair and discovers the money in the paper. But he does not intervene when Uncle Billy can’t produce the envelope while in line to make the deposit.

George goes with Uncle Billy to retrace his steps, all the while Potter is watching. George, desperate, calls Uncle Billy a “silly, stupid old fool” because he can’t remember where he misplaced the money.

George goes home and comes unglued with the children, especially with Janey who’s practicing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.“ He does accept Zuzu’s flower petals when she offers them from her sick bed. Then he chews out Zuzu’s teacher for letting her get sick. George even questions whether he and Mary have a happy family. But when he knocks stuff off a table, all know “something is wrong with Daddy.” He says he’s sorry but does not reveal to Mary what’s pressing him. His scaring the family has an impact. Mary asks the children to pray for Daddy. George leaves.

11. What are you willing to risk in order to gain what you can only hope for? George goes to Potter, explains the situation, and offers him a life insurance policy as collateral for a loan. George appears to be worth more dead than alive since his equity in the policy is minimal in comparison to the value of it should he die. Potter refuses and instead says he is calling the police. (”No help from a warped, frustrated old man.”) He tells George that the District Attorney and local reporters are looking for him.

George leaves and goes to Martini’s Bar. Drinks. Prays to his “Father in heaven” to show him the way. But when he is interrupted by the husband of Zuzu’s teacher slugging him for talking that way to his wife, George sees that as the answer to his prayer. (“That’s what I get for praying.”)

Drunken George drives off, runs into a tree, and then makes his way along a bridge on foot. At this juncture, 10:45 PM, on Christmas Eve, George is considering throwing himself off the bridge.

Up to this point, this entire story has been shown to Clarence Oddbody, George’s Guardian Angel, by an invisible person called Joseph. Clarence is being sent in answer to the prayers of the community who are worried about George’s out-of-character behavior.

Clarence jumps into the river. George immediately jumps in to save him. Drying out in the watchman’s office, Clarence not only reveals that he is an angel, but also that his strategy of having George save him was so that Clarence could save George in the process.

The bridge watchman notes that it’s illegal to commit suicide and Clarence agrees that it is illegal where he comes from too, meaning heaven.

Clarence says it’s ridiculous to kill oneself over money.

None of these arguments are persuasive to George. So Clarence tries another, asking George to think about what would have happened to people if George hadn’t helped them. George again is not persuaded. Wishes he was never born. Clarence grants the wish.

12. How do you determining that the decision you are discerning is the right one? Clarence then shows George what would have happened if George hadn’t been born and did not exist.

George would have no identity. There would not have been a car wreck because George would have not had a car. Martini’s Bar would be Nick’s, an uncomfortable non-family environment since George wasn’t there to help Martini. Bedford Falls would have been Potterville. Bailey Park would have been a cemetery. Harry would have drowned. All those he saved during the war would be dead because he wasn’t there for them. There would be no building and loan association and Uncle Billy would be in the insane asylum as a result. George’s mother would not recognize him. George’s home would be empty; no family. Mary would be an old maid librarian.

When George is overwhelmed at the thought of Mary not recognizing him, he runs from the police and cries out to Clarence that he wants to live again. Immediately his deepest desire is granted.

Nothing bothers him. George returns home to face the bank examiner, the DA, the Police, and the Reporters, but without a care. Then Mary arrives with the news that the community has come forward to help George out with cash donations that easily cover the lost money. Harry arrives to join the celebration and toasts George as “the richest man in town.” Sam wires that he is prepared to wire $25,000 to help George out. Janey plays “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and George opens a present from Clarence. It’s the Tom Sawyer book with the inscription: “…Remember, no man is a failure who has friends…”

© 2007 John Darrouzet