It’s that time of year, dear reader, when It’s a Wonderful Life is going to be played on TV because, you know, it’s a classic and people just can’t let go of the past. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an okay movie, but I think they overplay the hell out of it. Or maybe they don’t anymore… It’s been years since I’ve watched TV, so who knows?
But it makes me wonder… would things have really been so awful if—what’s his name—George Bailey hadn’t been born at all? Like, was he the only person who could have saved the people in his town from their fates? If he hadn’t been born, couldn’t someone else have saved his brother, Harry? Or—hear me out—maybe things would have been different and Harry wouldn’t have gone out on that lake in the first place. You know? And it’s completely possible that Mr. Gower might have hired someone just as competent as George, had he not been born, which would’ve prevented the accidental poisoning. And, lastly, again, hear me out, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Mary would have found someone else to marry if George weren’t around. I always found it more unrealistic to think she’d grow up to be a spinster without George.
My point, dear reader, is that if George wasn’t around, the town wouldn’t have lived the same life without him. If you pluck George out of the timeline, Harry’s not on the ice that day, the pharmacist hires someone else, and Mary grows into a whole new version of herself. Life doesn’t run the same script with one character missing. It would’ve lived a completely different one — fresh problems, different miracles, different everything. He made a difference in his timeline, but without him, everything changes.
What’s the saying? Nature abhors a vacuum. If something disappears, something else will move right in, and the whole pattern changes. Think about this; our birth is an incredible coincidence of circumstances. Ten minutes either way in the moment of our conception and someone else would be here instead of us. You don’t need to go back in time to “kill Hitler.” You just have to delay his parents for, like, a bit and make sure he was never born at all. Would that prevent the whole thing? Who knows? But if you take one person out of the picture, the world will rearrange itself in ways we can’t predict.
But let’s suspend our disbelief a bit and give It’s a Wonderful Life its due. George Bailey was born and raised in a tiny town, one where everyone knew everyone else. So the message of the movie works there… kind of. But what if someone like me had “never been born”? How would that work?
I haven’t done the grand things George Bailey did. But I’ve had four kids, so they wouldn’t be here, and by extension everything they’ve done would be negated. That part’s easy, though. Hmmm… what else? I wonder if my twin would have been born without me. Probably not, since we’re from the same egg. So if I wasn’t born, then she’s gone too, and all of her kids and grandkids—poof! But again, that’s the simple answer.
Let’s see… what else? I’ve helped a few people when they needed it. If I weren’t around, I’d like to think someone else would step in and help them in the same way.
But there’s one thing I know about myself: I’m stoic? I guess that’s the right word. Meaning I don’t react to situations the way many people do. One example is the time I was sitting at a bus stop waiting for a delayed bus. This dude, unkempt, kind of smelly, wild hair. He looked kinda stoned too. Anyway, he sat down next to me and just started talking. He told me about his dreams, his music, his fears. And he rambled on about how ghosts were following him. During all of this, he handed me a CD with his music on it and asked me to listen. I had to inform him—sadly—that I didn’t have a CD player. But I listened to him and made all the right sounds, commiserating with his ghost woes and everything.
The bus was delayed for over an hour, and so we sat on the curb under the hot Virginia sun: him pouring his heart out and me listening. I didn’t offer help — though I did give him some water and a snack from my bag — nor did I suggest he might be imagining the ghosts that plagued him. I just… listened. Eventually, the bus came, I got on, and he wandered off.
This wasn’t the first nor the last encounter of that kind I’ve had. I remember that one specifically because, just before this person sat down beside me, a crow or raven cawed at me from a telephone pole across the street. Corvids are messengers from the gods, y’all, so I paid attention. The whole interaction was kind of surreal.
Anyway, I bring it up because I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to listen to him, or to the myriad other people I’ve just listened to. I like to think, dear reader, that I helped them. And I know for a fact there aren’t many people like me out there. People who just… listen and don’t judge. In that way, I think I’ve made my mark on the world.
It’s not as grand as saving a whole town from an evil corporation, but hey, we all do our best, right?
Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind today. Thanks for reading. Take care of yourself. And I’ll chat at you later.
Writing prompt: In which ways would the world be different if you hadn’t been born?
