I’ve usually have difficulty answering the question, what is your favourite…? If I am able to answer the question, I usually dread the follow-up question...why? I don’t know is my standard reply. I am not happy with that standard reply, because I think it displays a lack of thought, decisiveness and imagination. So, in an attempt to expand the range of my thought processes and to enhance the quality of my imagination I will begin a list of my favourite things. Julie Andrews eat your heart out! The important part of this exercise will be to explain why these “things” are my favourites. Let’s start with and easy one.

My Favourite Movie

My favourite movie is “It’s a wonderful life” by Frank Capra with James Stewart. This film is shown on TV every year at Christmas time and it does have a Christmassy feel at times, but that is not why I like it. I like the film for the transformation that main character George Bailey undergoes throughout the movie. At the beginning of the movie George is an enthusiastic young man who has big plans for his life. George plans to travel the world and have exciting adventures by escaping the drab little town he lives in.

George is also a very capable young man who works with his father in the town savings and loan company. Every time George prepares to leave town factors conspire to keep him in this little town of Bedford Falls. War breaks out and George cannot go, his father dies and he has to take over the savings and loan, the depression hits and he has to protect the savings and loan. All of these factors combine to almost break George’s spirit. At a crisis point where George is about to loose the savings and loan company to the rich old miser of a bank owner he considers suicide. This is where Clarence, an angel drops into the scene and George has to save him from the river he was just thinking about jumping into. Clarence the angel asks George what he wishes for and George says he wishes he had never been born.

Of course George does not believe Clarence is an angel, but the next part of the movie finds George running around town to find to his amazement and desperation that no one knows him and in fact he really never had been born. George sees a very different town in his absence. In this town the banker owner has a fast grip on the finances of almost everyone in town. People are meaner, more suspicious, and people on the boarder-lines of society have fallen below the line of desperation and given up on life. His wife had never married, his children never existed, his mother was an old maid and his brother drowned when he was young without George there to save him. George sees all of what this city is and he is desperate to have things back the way they were in the past. Clarence convinces George that the town is different, because George was never there.

George finally believes Clarence and begs him put things back the way they were. George wishes to be alive and to be back in his life despite all the problems he had been having and despite the fact that he may soon be in jail. Clarence returns Bedford Falls to its normal state and things turn out for the better as the town and George’s friends rally behind him and the savings and loan. Clarence also gains his wings.

I like this film, because it shows that people with tremendous energy and good will can have a great influence on their surroundings. I believe people make a place a good place or a bad place. If you choose not to be a positive influence on your town by not contributing to it, then your community suffers. You become a hindrance to your town rather than a help. Taking and not giving back has its consequences and those consequences can be dire if enough people give up on their community. In the end George was supported by the community, because he had been such a great support to that community over the years.

I also like this movie, because of George’s integrity and his fight to maintain it as various negative factors challenged him throughout his life. George saved his brother from drowning as a young boy and he endure a beating by his employer rather than let the man make a horrible error. George had a very positive influence on members of society who were close to falling under the clutches of the evil bank owner and to those who were close to falling in with bad company.

This film always leaves me with hope in my heart. In the end George does not get to follow his dream of traveling the world and having great adventures, but he does have a very happy life, with great friends and a loving family. George finds that life is what you make it, even if it is sometimes difficult. George finds that in the end being a good person pays you back richly and you will have a “Wonderful Life.”

My Favourite Bird

I would have to say that my favourite bird is the Chickadee. Why? I like the song of the Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. To my ear this is a joyous sound. When I hear it I stop and look around. Invariably I will see one or more of these small black and white beauties dodging in and out of a nearby hedge. Chickadees could easily fit into the palm of a child’s hand. The bird has a light coloured breast, dark wings and a black cap. To my eye Chickadees look like they have dressed up in their finest tuxedo and they are ready to go to a grand ball.

I can watch my local Chickadees out my kitchen window. My day becomes complete when I look up from my plate to see one of these cheery souls hanging from my bird feeder searching for a plump sunflower seed or a nibble off the suet ball. Chickadees are recognized as the official bird of New Brunswick and they are also the official bird around my home as well.

My Favourite Colour

My favourite colour is a moderately easy decision to make, because as a child we are all asked what our favourite colour is - at that time I chose blue. I chose blue because it was the colour of my favourite hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs. Later, I lost interest in hockey and I started not caring much about colours. I determined at that time that I did not have a favourite colour. After a few more years I took up photography and colours once again became important to me. I now appreciate a finely shot photo with excellent colour saturation, and contrast. I find that a fine photo with large quantities of striking blues in it always catches my attention and elicits a calming effect on me. I love the sight screeching Blue Jay or a neon blue salamander or a crisp clear blue sky on a cold winter morning or dark blue water of a warm tropical sea. For this reason, I have to say that blue is my favourite colour. Even though people say I should dress in red and that blue is an over-rated colour, I like it and it is my favourite colour.