Live Boldly. Live Well. Just Live.

Seventy years ago in 1946, director Frank Capra created a movie entitled "Its a Wonderful Life" about a good man who struggles with injustices that happen to him in spite of his best efforts to live a good life and help other people. In a moment of despair, he decides that life is no longer worth living and wishes he had never been born. He is granted his wish of seeing what life what be like without him. What finally helps George Bailey change his mind about wishing he had never existed is not that his own problems went away, but rather the realization that "each person's life touches so many other lives and when they aren't around, they leave an awful hole". This movie, which has become one of the premier classic films of all time, aims to teach all of us, that even when we experience adversity, setbacks, or injustices, not withstanding the opposition in all things that must needs be, life should and can be wonderful.

Present day Hollywood has just produced a new film entitled "Me Before You" that deals with the same theme as "Its a Wonderful Life", namely how to respond when life gives you unwanted hardships and adversity. Apparently, Hollywood, society, and morality has changed a lot in 70 years. "Me Before You" is about a quadriplegic who decides to end his life via assisted suicide. Not withstanding the film's tagline of "Live Boldly. Live Well. Just Live.", the film attempts to portray that assisted suicide is a bold choice that should be honored and supported, in part, because the girl he loves would be better off without him. Click here to read a review of "Me Before You".

In contrast to Hollywood's and society's trend of embracing assisted suicide when life is hard, I would like to again point to the example of Jack Rushton, another very good man I have mentioned before in my blog. Like the fictional character named Will in the "Me Before You" film, Jack suddenly became a quadriplegic due to a tragic accident that permanently damaged his spinal cord. Unlike Will, Jack also had to rely on a mechanical respirator to breath for him the rest of his life. After an all too understandable period of denial and despondency, Jack, along with his amazing wife Jo Anna, chose to face their sore trial with courage, determination, gratitude, a positive attitude, and a healthy dash of self deprecating humor...and in doing so, positively influenced the lives of many, many people. I highly recommend reading Jack's blog entitled "Its Good to be Alive". Me Before You? Not so much.