Jamie Lee Curtis, HuffPo: It IS a Wonderful Life

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Jamie Lee Curtis
Posted December 24, 2008 | 05:44 PM (EST)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-lee-curtis/it-iisi-a-wonderful-life_b_151856.html

In It's a Wonderful Life, the classic holiday film, the hero, George Bailey, saved the small, family Savings and Loan that his father started from a run by nervous investors, convincing them to take out only what they needed, that if they stuck together, they could avert the failing of the business. He became a local hero and the fat cat, Potter, who wanted the institution to fail was thwarted. When, by accident (actually theft) all of the deposits are lost and he realizes that the Savings and Loan would now have to go under and Potter would win, George wished he had never been born. When an angel comes to show him what the world would have been like without him and he is shown what his one human life accomplished, the people he helped, that he was a wonderful son, brother, husband, father, friend and community member, he and we all are all reminded about our own unique power and generosity.

Many Americans are now feeling that pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization of financial loss and despair and many are facing financial ruin, only now the real Potter is a scumbag named Madoff whose greed and avarice is beyond words. Many men and women are feeling the shame and fear and anguish. I'm sure many have wondered if the world would be better off without them, that the judgments made about subprime loans and the lies that they were fed about them, were their fault and failures -- theirs alone. They are not alone.

I don't know if we should bail out the broken auto industry. Now that gas is back down are we all going to go back to business as usual? Go out and buy a big guzzler just to keep the broken thing creaking along. Is that real help? I don't know. Is loading up our plastic really going to help? Is debt the answer? I don't think so.

What I do know is that we are fat. Obese. See WALL-E. That is the future. We have fat lifestyles, fat habits, fat minds and arteries. Last week, Obama said that it was going to get worse but that we would emerge, leaner and meaner..I don't think lean is mean...it just rhymes. Lean is healthy. Most of us eat too much, super sized lives and meals. My four words to a better life, brand new, self-help/beauty/how-to book is being published right here on the Huffington Post, downloadable for free -- right here, right now.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I am sure her heart is in the right place...

Being down here in the trenches and taking lifestyle tips from someone of Hollywood-style comfortable means is more than a little grating on the one good nerve I have left.

[renate]

2. I normally like her...

... but boy does she seem out of touch.

Helping people, doing things together, maybe even eating healthier foods are all great if they're done by CHOICE. If they're done for survival out of desperation, they're a lot less fun... and they aren't even done in the right spirit. If we have potlucks mainly or solely because it's the only way to get a change from beans and rice, it's not the same thing as church or school potlucks where the underlying feeling is one of companionship, not starvation.

I saw a story on the news last night about people "opening up" their homes to strangers for rent because they would otherwise lose their homes. Well, with the right people that could be fun, for a few days, but we all know the saying about how houseguests, like fish, start to stink after three days. Living in close quarters with strangers would be incredibly stressful. I have a feeling Jamie Lee won't be sharing her house with anybody any time soon--easy for her to wax poetic about how jolly it would be for other people to have to do so.

I totally believe that our society has been too focused on materialism and outward appearances and keeping up with the Joneses. But as someone who is fortunate enough to be sitting in a warm house with sufficient food to eat, for me to tell other people that cutting back on food and huddling with strangers to keep warm is a lovely return to the way things ought to be would be the height of presumption.