GEORGE BAILEY'S WONDERFUL LIFE CONTINUES

You can tell who the Henry F. Potters are because they are the ones scoffing at idealists and prattling on about common sense, while crushing the weak and poor.

In Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," the Bailey family's Building and Loan business helps families to live in houses of their own, instead of languishing in Potter's high-rent slums. The Baileys help struggling families get a foothold on the American Dream.

Henry Potter, "the richest and meanest" man in Bedford Falls, opposes the Baileys at every turn.

The spirit of Mr. Potter doesn't reside only in the very rich or just in Bedford Falls.

Potters everywhere hate people who stand for something. They don't like people who cannot be manipulated by money or threats.

They deride those with "high ideals" and decent character. You've heard them jeering at the George Baileys of the world, wrinkling their noses at "uptight idealists" and "moralist scolds." Anyone bent on doing evil hates to be reminded of his own selfishness, and nothing serves better as a reminder than the contrasting charitable activity of a generous and kind George Bailey.

To the Potters, people committed to doing good are chumps and suckers. They must be opposed, and if that doesn't work, they must be diverted.

Potter tries to lure George Bailey into his own corrupt world by flattery and the offer of a high-salaried, three-year contract. It almost works. George, Potter says, is no "common ordinary yokel," but bright and smart.

Potter appeals to the universal sense that we are better than others. Everyone wants to think they are smarter and cleverer than the next guy, that if only given the chance, we can show the world just how much better we are. It is a strong temptation, even for George.

And yet, George Bailey's father had been dedicated to helping those common yokels, even if it meant losing money occasionally. And George knows, the minute he shakes hands with the oily Potter, that he can't be on Potter's payroll if he is to help the hard-pressed families to whom he's committed.

Without George Bailey, Bedford Falls --- a healthy community filled with happy, hard-working families and tidy little businesses --- becomes a seedy dump. Bedford Falls becomes Pottersville and takes on an entirely different character.

Instead of a solid, thriving community of mom-and-pop establishments (Merry Christmas movie house! Merry Christmas Emporium! Merry Christmas good ol' Building and Loan), Pottersville is a place where sirens blare; fights erupt in the streets; bars, pawn shops and girly clubs flourish.

In Pottersville, even friendly people like George's mom and Nick the bartender become hardened and coarsened.

George Bailey gave up every dream he had, dreams of building skyscrapers 100 stories high and bridges a mile long, getting out of his "crummy little town" and stuffy little office and seeing the world --- all to live with Donna Reed and four whiny kids.

That's how the Potters would characterize it anyway.

Ann Landers would have urged George to put himself first, to abandon the burden of other people's expectations and live his dream.

That's how many who have unwittingly been Potterized see things today. Self should come first. Then others, if you have any time left.

But what made George Bailey so wonderful was that he repeatedly put the dreams of others ahead of his own. And it made the difference for an entire town. It kept Bedford Falls from becoming Pottersville.

If George Bailey had never been born, the town would certainly have become Pottersville.

Each man's life touches so many other lives. "And when he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" --- Clarence.

But say George had been born, but his life was cut short from lymphoma or respiratory illness. The awful hole remains. That can't be helped.

But the lifetime of a man like George Bailey makes its mark. The influence of such a city father is an embedded and ongoing factor in the life of a town and can't easily be quenched by the scoffers.

Donna Marmorstein All rights reserved 2003