Bedford Falls

I started panning away from Bedford Falls at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  The viewpoint backed away until I could see the town and four or five miles of hills all around from an aerial view, not quite directly vertical.  Then it started to scroll through time and I watched as development after development of George Bailey’s housing subdivisions and larger office parks and shopping centers started consuming the green.  Finally the entire view except the very outside edges was in orderly patterns of streets & buildings.  Seen from a distance, it wasn’t much consolation to know that George had gotten rich building them instead of Mr. Potter.  I had to remind myself that in this case seeing the big picture didn’t tell the story that the individual details do.  Either way brought change that we might not like, but one way improved people’s lives and the other didn’t.  Sometimes not seeing the forest because you see the trees is a good thing.