"'Always try to see life around ya as if you'd just come out of a tunnel.'" – Jimmy Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

   Old stories (& some new ones) are populated with questers that champion high ideals. As a kid, I watched the odysseys of movie heroes like Jimmy Stewart, believed in them & thought everyone did.

   Ahh, the cold realities of adulthood. I prosecuted corruption & perjury in courtrooms & felt good that I was on the "right" side. But, I also saw corruption among leaders in settings where it was tacitly approved instead of actively opposed.

   As Erie Chapman Foundation continues to advance radical loving care in hospitals we routinely encounter heavy skepticism.

   Everyone claims they believe in Love so why are campaigns for it so hard? 

   Our President has become the world's #1 skeptic. Although Trump claims Christian faith his guiding Bible verse is "eye for an eye" not Jesus' message, "love one another." His chronic lying & the felony convictions of several close advisors demonstrate a fear-based vision. His strategy of cheating & bullying displays his belief that love is for suckers. 

   "There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties," Stewart's character says. Sadly, evils appear everywhere & always have. But, cannot we at least support Love's champions?

   Since Mr. Smith is a Capra hero, hope appears. "Great principles don't get lost once they come to light," Stewart claims…you just have to see them again!"

   But we know from Jesus' journey that Love's path will always be strewn with landmines. Comfort emerges in Liz Wessel's essay, "The Rhythm of a Blessing" & its opening quote from Thoreau: “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

   Thank you for holding high Love's light – especially when darkness seems unending. Thank you for seeing life "as if you'd just come out of a tunnel."

-Erie Chapman

photograph: © 1939 Columbia Pictures Corporation; photograph from a private collection – for educational use