It's a Wonderful Life--Really!

And Auld Lang Syne too!

(I first sent this out in 2021, but after re-watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” again last night—and this morning!—I twanted to re-share with everyone on Christmas Day. Happy Holidays to all!)

Of all the songs in the world, "Auld Lang Syne" is one of my all-time favorites, one I never got tired of playing on the guitar or hearing sung.

And of all the movies in the world, I easily pick “It’s a Wonderful Life,” as the greatest ever. Obviously I’m not alone in this sentiment. “Life” plays every year at this time, even though it was filmed in black and white and is nearly 80 years old. (In 2025, it clocks in at 79!)

That’s staying power. Name another movie of that era still airing every year, on broadcast TV even! I watch it every 12 months and never, ever get tired of it. How about you?

Where to view the movie

Many say that “Life” is a Christmas movie, but I kind of disagree. It’s also an “Auld Lang Syne” film. The financial crisis for George Bailey occurs during Christmas, but there’s little in the movie about the holiday, save for the tree in the Bailey’s living room and Zuzu practicing a song for the school Christmas pageant. (George does scream “Merry Christmas” to everyone at the end too, but I digress.)

At the dramatic conclusion, the one that brings everyone to tears every year, George’s large circle of friends sing “Auld Lang Syne,” to him, the song was inspired by the old Robert Frost poem. Bert the cop accompanies them on the accordion that he just happened to have in his police car. (Explain me that!)

The movie is about the impact we all make on others.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Per USA TODAY, the phrase Auld Lang Syne, which dates back to the 1700s and an old Scottish poem, means old long since, “but can be interpreted in practice as `old times, especially times fondly remembered.”

So the meaning of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” an otherwise somewhat dark film with a suicide theme, is to cherish your circle of friends and family, because they are everything. (Plus photography and music too…) We all need each other. We love the memories of our time together and look forward to more of them. Every year!

Class assignment: Think of the people who impacted your life in a big or small wayin 2025.

My list is rather extensive. How about you?

I want to offer a big thank you to Mitch Goldstone, the never-stopping force behind the business Scanmyphotos.com, which takes people’s old photos and digitizes them so we can see and share them again, instead of having them lay in boxes.

I wrote four parts of my origin story in this tech meets photo meets travel newsletter, breaking format to relive the tale of a young man obsessed with music and records who went on to become a writer/photographer/journalist. (Go figure.)

I had more response to those pieces than anything else I’ve done this year, even more than my mishaps with the missing backpack in Sicily or being seemingly stranded in Tijuana.

Had it not been for Mitch, I never would have been able to write those pieces. Because the old pictures, seen again for the first time in years, told the story and more importantly, helped me relieve the memories. They were my reporter’s notebook. I knew I drove a Mazda back then, but which model? Oh, it’s in the picture, a Miser. I could tell you that the walls of my record store were lined with photos, but who was being pictured in there? Thanks to Mitch, I was able to tell you.

(UPDATE) In a year when we’ve seen two California communities devestated by fires that burned most of the homes, along with the usual floods and other natural disasters, this was a great reminder to get our pictures digitized so our memories are forever accessible. AI will never bring them back.

Meanwhile, below, some Auld Lang Syne for you.

Tech Update

You know the great ending of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when everybody in town gathers to chip in money to raise $8,000 (more like $116,000 in today’s dollars) to save George Bailey and the Bailey Building and Loan Co.?

Today, this practice is now known as GoFundMe. When people have financial issues, this is the website they turn to, and the power of it is simply amazing. I’ve never been in a recipient’s shoes, but I can only imagine how the great guitarist Richard Smith felt a few weeks ago when he got sick and reached out for help. Within a few days, upon the urging of his sister-in-law, some $100,000+ was raised to help Richard pay his hospital bill and recover from weeks of losing work.

GoFundMe says more than $50 million is raised every week on its site—that’s a lot of help for a whole lot of George Bailey’s!

Sarah!

I dedicate this edition to my late friend Sarah Ross, who sadly took her life in November 2021, and didn’t have Clarence the angel to stop her.

I knew Sarah from her work in tech publicity, and to me she was outgoing, very friendly and really good at what she did. Outside of work, we shared a love of waking up early and taking photos at the beach, and liked each other’s photos often on Facebook.

When people are down in the dumps, we don’t know if reaching out a little more aggressively would have done anything, but could it hurt? I think of my late friend Richard Goldstein often, who took his life in 2013 and wish he was still here.

This is a problem most of us just simply aren’t aware of. In 2025, when filming the Photowalks episode about the Golden Gate Bridge, I met a photographer named Jake Ricker who spent years going to the Bridge to take photos every day.

Along the way, he says he witnessed some 90 people who came up there to jump and do what George Bailey didn’t succeed at: kill themselves. Luckily Jake was there was be there Clarence and talk them out of it.

It’s a wonderful life, even during these polarized, pandemic times. Let’s all thank people like Jake, all the Go Fund Me funders and the fictional Clarence, sing Auld Lang Syne and remember that!

Here’s to a great 2026!

Happy new year everyone!

Jeff