The Greatest Movie Ever

 The Greatest Movie Ever

What’s your favorite movie? At Oscar time, movie critics list their “ten best” for the year and often comment on the best movies of all time. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, and Singing in the Rain top many lists. All these are great but my vote for the greatest movie of all time is Smoke Detectives. 

Smoke Detectives is the story of Count Floyd, a vampire of the Count Chocula variety, who lives in a haunted house filled with spiderwebs, coffins, dark corners, and fire-safety hazards. The Smoke Detectives, a gang of kids in trench coats and deerstalker caps, get a tip from his “Mummy” that the Count needs help. At first, the Count tries to frighten them before telling them old vaudeville jokes like “I just flew in from Transylvania and, boy, are my arms tired!” The detectives find fire hazards, like over-stuffed outlets and frayed cords, frightening the Count. They teach him about fire safety and he gets to work fixing his problems. 

Riveting, right? Probably not to you but when I showed this movie to my second-grade class every year, they were mesmerized. No one moved a muscle for twenty-five minutes. A rare moment of peace for me and a meaningful learning moment for them.  We laughed at the Count’s jokes and silly acting and learned along with him about fire safety. At the end, we’d bounce along as we sang the catchy jingle: Smoke Detectives are on the beat; Smoke Detectives are on your street; Smoke Detectives know what to do; Smoke Detectives like me and YOU!

What makes a movie great? Is it the cinematography, the story, the direction, or the acting? Those all contribute to be sure. But the lessons a movie teaches and the feelings viewers walk away with are what really make a movie great. My students learned fire safety rules and that they have power to change things. Children can identify a problem and solve it — and they can do it while having fun. Smoke Detectives are like me and you. We all have something to contribute. We can help others with knowledge and good humor. 

Twenty-five minutes of peace and twenty-five students learning and loving it made Smoke Detectives my pick for greatest movie. We walked away smarter and feeling joyful, ready to help our families and friends, perhaps while telling a few silly jokes. The best movies make you think and feel. Sharing with a few dozen little friends makes them great — like me and you. 

(Watch Smoke Detectives on YouTube. Many thanks to State Farm Insurance.) 

Numbering Your Years

Numbering Your Years

My youngest brother credits all the accomplishments in his life back to his fifth birthday. According to his scale, he had learned to read, write, cipher, argue the Constitution, quote Plato, prove geometric theorems, discuss Einstein’s theories, and drive before he was five years old. OK, maybe I exaggerated those last few, but no matter what accomplishments the rest of us claimed, he always countered with, “I could do that by the time I was five.”

How do you number your years? When I was a child, I linked my memories to my age: I learned to ride my bike when I was six. We moved to Seattle when I was seven. We moved three times when I was eight. Daddy had surgery when I was nine. Mikey was born when I was eleven. Nonna moved in when I was thirteen. Mom started working when I was fifteen. Nana died that same year. Every memory was cataloged by the years of my life.

When we are young, the world revolves around us. Our interests, needs, likes, and dislikes take center stage. As we mature, we become aware of others around us, but we remain egocentric. It is not, how does this event affect the world, but how does this event affect me? 

After I got married, my children’s ages outlined my life: We bought the station wagon when Rob was seven. We went to Florida when Jeff was thirteen. We got the goats when Thera was four. Numbering the years of the century faded behind the numbering of my children’s lives. 

It is not until we become parents that we can truly step out of ourselves and appreciate the cares of others. How do the things I do, think, and say affect my children? How do world events affect their lives and futures? What can I do to make their lives better and possibly, make the world a better place for all?

Parents’ resumes read differently from the very first cry of their child’s life. They no longer record the deals they seal or how many thousands they make but their child’s first smiles, first steps, first words, sorrows, and triumphs. Parents’ accomplishments lists include hours spent reading, hiking, talking, and sharing with a child. They include disciplining, arguing, laughing, shouting, and apologizing. They remember snuggling and snoozing in a backyard hammock with an infant, building sandcastles on the shore with a toddler, driving to countless games or recitals with a teenager, and wiping away tears as they leave the nest as a young adult. Every trip, every move, every purchase is balanced with time with your children. Your memory book merges with their lives.

Number your children’s years with love and joy. Work with them, walk with them, sing with them, and play with them. Make their lives worth remembering. Help them number their years with memories of you and the way you loved them.   

My baby brother has accomplished many things in his life but perhaps the greatest will be how he loves his four wonderful children -- all born after he was five.   

 

Lifelong What?

 

Lifelong What?

 

Every day on the news, some politician, pundit, or pastor, underscores a position or opinion by stating that, “I am a life-long (fill in the blank). This assertion, given as a shorthand cue to listeners, ascribes virtues, values, or traditional stances to the speaker. Life-long conservative, life-long liberal, life-long party member, life-long proponent, life-long opponent, life-long supporter, life-long protestor — every identifier rings bells for those who agree or disagree. 

Abraham Lincoln might have described himself as a life-long opponent to slavery. In his book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, historian Eric Froner traces Lincoln’s evolution of thought about slavery. Raised by parents who disliked slavery, Lincoln’s anti-slavery sentiments formed early. 

As a young man working on river barges, Lincoln was sickened by the sight of human beings being bought and sold in the market like animals. As a nascent politician, Lincoln spoke out against the extension of slavery into new American territories. In a letter to a colleague, he wrote, "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think, and feel.”

Living in a nation split on the issue of slavery, Lincoln at first advocated for its gradual abolition. At one time, he supported reparations to slave owners who freed their slaves. When running for President, he accepted the fact that the southern states would remain in the Union while continuing the “peculiar institution” that maintained their economy. 

When the nation descended into civil war, Lincoln’s main concern was for the preservation of the Union. In an 1862 newspaper article, he wrote: "If I could save the union without freeing any slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." It wasn’t until 1863 in the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free.” Even then, he was unsure that freed slaves could be included in American society and considered returning them to Africa.

Lincoln might have identified as a life-long abolitionist, but his thinking about slaves and slavery evolved. Eric Froner writes that Lincoln’s evolution echoed that of the nation’s — from allowance to restriction to gradual emancipation to immediate freedom to segregation to integration. 

Thinking people and nations evolve in practices and ideals. Life-long should not describe a stagnant position or opinion. Life-long as a qualifier should only be attached to learner. To grow and thrive, nations and people must assess old ideas and positions, adapt to changing times, and adjust to meet the needs and challenges ahead. Life is long. Like Lincoln, use yours to make the world a better place.