You need to learn to forgive and not hold grudges. Grimes: I think forgiveness makes your life wonderful. That’s the way I look at it, and that’s the way I look at this list. For somebody to keep walking through life, just doing the right thing, not what’s right for them, or the other person, just what is the right thing to do. Hawkins: You either have it, or you don’t. Never underestimate the importance of integrity and good character I’ll never get over my son’s suicide, but giving of myself to help others made a huge difference in my life. I started working in nursing homes, doing volunteer work, and I did a lot of singing in a few places, and it made me feel whole again. I realized that giving of yourself is a healing thing. I thought I couldn’t face the kids, but he kept insisting, so I went back, and I started donating my time again. I used to volunteer at a high school, and a priest there kept telling me to come back. I was just so shaken and in grief that I just didn’t know which way to turn. He was 18 years old, and he had a whole life ahead of him. From my personal experience, I had a son who committed suicide. Grimes: The number one on my list was learning to give to others. That’s the way some people, but you either are that way, or you aren’t. When that guy jumped into the water, he was right there and didn’t think for a second, ‘Oh, I could drown myself.’ He just did it. Sometimes, when you’re a giver, you don’t even know you’re doing it. He was right for the way he did it, and the way you do it can be right for you. When you watch the movie, you see what George went through to achieve the reward, and then you reflect on your own life. Hawkins: Something like that is very personal. We all leave our mark.Ī scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life' with Jimmy Stewart and Clarence the Angel, played by Henry. The idea of seeing how different things would be if you had never been born and had an impact on the world is so compelling. He never saw anything in the other three scripts that captured it as well as that card did. Frank read three scripts that had been written, and It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t the title at that point, and bought the rights which included a kind of Christmas card with the original story. The story of It’s a Wonderful Life is about a man who gets to see what life would have been like if he had never been born. You can create lists of lessons to learn in life from now to kingdom come, but that’s the message, and it’s so important.
Hawkins: The biggest thing for me is what Frank Capra was trying to say, and that was that we’re all important and we can all make a difference. Everything that he was going out there to search for was right there all along. At the end of the movie, George realizes that what he has is his dream. He wanted to build things and what he learned in this film was that he had it all. Jimmy Hawkins: George wanted to see the world. You have that power to make it happen for you. You have to look on the positive side of things and make it good your own way. The lesson that we learn is that sometimes we need to follow our dreams, but if it doesn’t happen, good things can come from it. It’s not the dreams he had for himself, but his love for his family and his fellow man. He also learns what is important in life. Karolyn Grimes: I think at the end of the movie, where George Bailey goes through all the emotions, he realizes how he really had contributed and helped other people.