COMMENTARY: Jimmy Stewart embodied what’s best about America

c. 1997 Religion News Service (Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He is now a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.) UNDATED _ Perhaps President Clinton summed it up best when reflecting on the death of actor Jimmy Stewart:”America lost a national […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He is now a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

UNDATED _ Perhaps President Clinton summed it up best when reflecting on the death of actor Jimmy Stewart:”America lost a national treasure.” That Stewart died days before the nation’s birthday was sad, yet appropriate. In art, as well as in life, Stewart seemed to embody what’s best about America.


Of his more than 80 movie roles, Stewart’s portrayal of George Bailey in”It’s a Wonderful Life”was my _ and his _ personal favorite. I especially relate to Bailey because my life, like his, has been characterized by an ongoing struggle between my own, self-aggrandizing goals and the purposes of Divine Providence.

I am not alone. Indeed, the key to the near-universal appeal of Stewart’s characters is that they resonate within us _ in both who we are and who we long to be. Like us, they struggle with personal weaknesses and failures. But unlike most of us, they usually overcome.

George Bailey, for example, was”a man subject to like passions such as we are”_ to borrow a quote from James, the apostle. Possessed by soaring pride and ambition, Bailey faced a continuous series of dilemmas that forced him to sacrifice his personal goals for the good of his family, friends and business associates.

Here’s just one example: Instead of leaving his small hometown to attend college, Bailey chose to take his deceased father’s job at the local savings and loan. By doing so, he remained the only person to stand in the way of the greedy Mr. Potter from controlling all the financial institutions in town.

George Bailey did what was morally right, and by choosing the moral high ground, he improved the quality of life for everyone in the community.

To many of us, Stewart’s 1940s characterizations now seem sentimental, even corny. And though we may be moved by his quaint cinematic rectitude, our unspoken resolve to do better soon gives way to the demands, compromises and little white lies that are integral to life in the `90s. So we rationalize:”It’s only a movie,”we say,”Real life is different.” Yet the truths conveyed through characters like George Bailey _ however simplistic _ are undeniable. And the corrupt businessmen, politicians and judges that Stewart battled on film then are all too real to us today.

Furthermore, the corrupt are often aided in their ungodly pursuits by the inaction of the morally compromised masses _ people like you and me _ who are more concerned with our own problems and desires than anything else.


Yet it was from these compromised masses that the characters played by Stewart were culled. To paraphrase the prophet Isaiah, the George Baileys of the world are men”of unclean lips …dwell(ing) in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” But, also like Isaiah, the George Baileys are redeemed and set apart as prophets _ prodding and leading us toward truth, justice and morality.

In an interesting parallel, Jimmy Stewart often played righteous characters that reflected his private morality. On screen, he played heroes; in life, he was a decorated World War II veteran. In film, he played the quintessential family man; in life, he was a devoted husband and dedicated father.

To me, Jimmy Stewart was the genuine article, someone whose substance lived up to his image. On screen, he epitomized the person we long to be. In life, he demonstrated what we can be.

MJP END ATCHISON

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