In Frank Capra’s beloved Christmas movie, “Its a wonderful life,” a penniless George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) dies, believing that he was a failure. But a big-hearted angel named Clarence wisely allows George to go back in time and see how the lives of his friends and family would have been so much less had he not lived.

George Bailey’s bank account may have been small, but he was a rich man. He quietly devoted a lifetime to being a loving husband and father, a caring neighbor and a loyal friend. “Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends,” says Clarence.

Seeing this for the first time in all its beauty and simplicity, George implores his angel, “Help me, Clarence, please, I want to live again!”

Strange, isn’t it George? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he? – Clarence the Angel, It’s a Wonderful Life

Belgian poet Maurice Maeterlinck once asked: If you knew that you were going to die tonight, or merely that you would have to go away and never return, would you, looking upon men and things for the last time, see them in the same light that you have hitherto seen them? Would you not love as you never yet have loved?