My favorite scene from It’s A Wonderful Life; a great–but tough and sobering–lesson is taught here:
“Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.”
“That’s a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport!”
“Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.”
Gently Hew Stone 