No Man Is a Failure Who Has Friends

Let us remember this holiday season that our world is being pushed to the brink by losers and murderers

Courtesy of Startribune

It may be wrong for me to assume that most people reading this have at least once seen the classic movie Frank Capra movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the film is now arguably the number-one Christmas classic devoured yearly by tens of millions worldwide.

I am one of those devotees whose eyes fill up at least three or four times before (spoiler alert) our little angel buddy, Clarence, finally gets his wings, and George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) basks in the love of family and friends. This Christmas message is about friends. 

Clarence, the angel who leads George back from his desperation by hurling himself into the freezing river and then erases George’s life by giving him a glimpse of a world unaltered by all of Bailey’s good deeds, leaves a copy of a Tom Sawyer book as a reminder to George. The words, “No man is a failure who has friends,” are inscribed in the book. These are truly amazing words and simply words that ring so true. As I watched the closing scene today and felt the tears race down my cheeks, my mind wandered back to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Can Putin or Trump, and many of the world leaders of places like Hungary, Turkey, China, North Korea, and many others ever nudging our world to a darker and more evil place, legitimately say that they have friends? I seriously doubt that Putin has a “buddy.” I am positive that because of Trump’s maniacal obsession with himself, there is no way he could put himself in a normal friendship. The entire friendship would revolve around his whims, and in a heartbeat, Trump would toss that “friend” under the bus. In Putin’s case, without a second’s thought, he’d throw that “buddy” out a window. 

It is truly a genuine and marvelous test, and it should be something that all of us should consider before, say, voting for someone. Does Marjorie Taylor Greene have any friends? Would anyone want to befriend Matt Gaetz? What about the queen of the closet, Lindsey Graham? How can you befriend a man who hates himself and legislates against his preferred sexual partners? 

If a person can’t survive the rigors of a friendship, and friendships do test us in ways that other relationships can’t really — a marriage, in my book, is not a legitimate test — then why should we entrust those people with power? Why should we expect them to make good decisions and pass laws that affect our lives?

I know these sentiments won’t prevent many MAGA-ites from voting for Trump, but I understand why. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them struggle to keep friends. 

“Ever since he became MAGA, he’s unbearable. We just avoid him now.” 

As Clarence says so innocently yet profoundly: “Strange, isn’t it. Each man’s life touches so many other lives. And when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

Wouldn’t it be nice to imagine our lives without Putin, Trump, Greene, Richard Sackler, Xi, McConnell, and so many more of these failures ruining our world? 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.