Column: It takes a community to build a village

Published 3:00 am Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Lights decorate downtown, Christmas Village nestles in the park, unusual quiet envelopes the playgrounds. In the coffeeshops, drinks warm the body while conversation warms the soul.

It is time for our annual visit to Bedford Falls; time for the perpetually muddling angel, Clarence, to finally earn his wings and for distraught George Bailey to learn “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

For those who haven’t made the trip, the movie hinges on the moment when George, his world seemingly crumbling, finds himself on a lonely, snow-covered bridge considering a plunge into the icy river below. In anguish, he cries out that the world would be better off if he had never existed.

At that moment the angel, Clarence, literally drops in to show him how a George-less Bedford Falls, one without his seeming failures and the perpetually cash-strapped Bailey Building and Loan, would be a very different, much less welcoming, place.

The lesson, which seems quaint in the 21st century, is that the little guy — though uncelebrated and materially unrewarded — may be the true hero. But there is also another lesson, one easily overlooked.

Communities are not built upon one George Bailey, but upon hundreds of mostly unremarkable people. Bedford Falls is Bedford Falls not because George created it but because he is part of the community that became Bedford Falls. Remove a member of the community — the brother George saves, the girl he loves, Bert and Ernie serenading, even Potter conspiring — and George would be a different person and Clarence’s job considerably more difficult.

We are not George Bailey.

Most of us will never have the gift of knowing that, through a small kindness or selfless act, we made our town a better place. That is not the gift of living a beautiful life. Nor is it that one day the town will gather round, raise a glass in our direction and sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

The gift of a beautiful life is that every day, in our seemingly insignificant interactions and small choices, there is the possibility we may improve our community in ways we can’t foresee and will probably, barring angelic intervention, never know.

There is possibility that, no matter the past, a beautiful life can begin with one small action today.

Redmond is not Bedford Falls. The challenges we face will not be met by donations to the building and loan. But like Bedford Falls, we are a community. And when we come together as a community, lives can be changed and, perhaps, angels can earn their wings.

As the new year begins, Oasis Village stands as a testament to the caring and generosity of the people of Redmond. You embraced our dream, supported our efforts, and strengthened our resolve. In hundreds of ways, large and small, you have shown us the true meaning of a wonderful life; that it is only possible when we share it with a community.

We thank you for the gift of community.