By Editor Bob Terry
To understand the question raised by the headline of this column, one must be familiar with the classic Christmas film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
In a rage of despair, George Bailey, the hero of the movie, wishes he had never been born, and God allows him to see what life would have been like without him.
One of the most striking differences between what life was like with him and what life would have been like without him was the character of the town where George was reared and which he never left.
With George, the town was known as Bedford Falls. George devoted his life to helping the community become a wonderful place to live through the work of the local savings and loan association, which he headed as president.
George helped start affordable housing developments. He helped people get jobs, stay in their homes and pursue their dreams. George was a generous soul. He believed in people and helped make his beloved town the warm, family-centered place residents enjoyed.
George’s nemesis in life was Mr. Potter, a grumpy, greedy, grasping old man who kept warning George against trying to help “riffraff” who could not pay him for what he did. Mr. Potter was the richest man in the town. He owned the local bank, and the most important thing to him was owning everything he did not already own.
When George saw what life would have been like without him, one of the first things he learned was the name of the town had been changed from Bedford Falls to Potterville.
As he walked along the snow-covered streets (remember this is a Christmas movie), he saw bars, girlie shows and honky-tonks. Gone were the stores and businesses that his savings and loan association had kept in business. Neon lights glittered but behind them, one could see the decay of the buildings.
The people George had known as friends during his life had become grumpy, greedy and grasping without him. They were like Mr. Potter. Selfishness reigned supreme in Potterville and sin was rampant. Bedford Falls and all George believed in and had worked for were gone with the wind. The spirit of Mr. Potter was everywhere.
The movie has a happy ending. George repents of his despair and embraces life. He is returned to his beloved Bedford Falls and the good people he has known all his life. As far as we know, all lived happily ever after.
Real life is not always like that. Sometimes the greedy and grasping win. Good places become “Pottervilles,” where selfishness reigns and sin is rampant. Such could happen to Alabama.
Alabama is far from an idyllic place like Bedford Falls, but it is a good place to live. When Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans relocated to Alabama, many commented that they did not know a place like this still existed.
“In New Orleans, there is a bar on every corner. Here there is a church on every corner,” was an observation often shared by evacuees.
Instead of the selfishness for which New Orleans is known around the world, evacuees found compassion and caring in Alabama. In addition to helping with physical needs, Alabamians helped evacuees find jobs and invited them to church. New friendships were developed. Many former New Orleans residents felt they had moved from a Potterville-like existence to a Bedford Falls-like way of life.
But the greedy and grasping are at work in Alabama. Newspaper stories chronicle the latest chapter in the continuing story against gambling in the state. It seems the rich want to get richer at the expense of the public.
Public morality, concern for neighbor and community, a sense of responsibility and work ethic — all of these would be destroyed so a few could be like Mr. Potter and own what they do not already own.
As the state Legislature convenes, those who would turn Alabama into another Potterville are already at work. The alcohol bills and the perennial gambling bills are testimony to the greed and grasping of some selfish interests.
Just as guilty are those who block the state from having a fair and equitable tax structure for all its citizens. It is commonly admitted that our state tax structure places the heaviest burden on those least able to pay. Yet year after year, nothing is done because of the selfishly used power of special interests.
Other powerful special interests seem to seek more and more for themselves regardless of the impact on the general welfare of the state.
Perhaps special interest groups, by definition, are selfish. Still we should admit that the greed and grasping of such power displays all the characteristics of the movie’s Mr. Potter. If this greed and grasping goes unchecked, then Alabama could well become another Potterville, where public good is forgotten in the pursuit of selfishness and sin.
As Christians, we can pray for all of the leaders of our state — those in state and local government, the business and civic leaders of our communities, labor leaders and others. Pray that they will be more like George Bailey than like Mr. Potter. And as individual Christians, we can do our part to make sure our communities and our state are more like Bedford Falls than like Potterville.
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