I generally have little interest in the Hollywood scene, but if pressed to name my favorite actor, James Cagney would win the honor, hands down. Film critics and fans alike tout Cagney as one of the all-time greats. With origins as a song-and-dance man from Hollywood's early vaudeville roots, Cagney's characters brought to life the prototypical anti-hero. Indeed, Cagney was one of the early pioneers of the anti-hero genre, which I define basically as a scoundrel with just enough redeemable qualities to make you like him. To be sure, Cagney was very conscious about being typecast, and tried to branch out into other types of characters. But aside from Yankee Doodle Dandy, in which he played the estimable George M. Cohan, my all time favorite Cagney movies feature him in the role of the anti-hero.
More recently, I discovered a little known Cagney appearance from an old weekly television series called The Christophers. Still active today, The Christophers are an organization with Catholic roots whose mission is captured nicely in a simple motto: "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." In 1957, toward the end of his movie career, Cagney starred in an episode of The Christophers called "A Link in the Chain." He plays a professor who reflects on his life and whether he has made any difference. Over the course of 30 minutes, we see vignettes about 3 students who found the direction of their lives changed by this professor. Simply put, the professor provided timely encouragement and profound truth that revealed to each student that good could be done in this world, and lives could be made better because we choose to get directly involved - not in causes, but with real people. The episode reveals in time that we are all but links in a chain - the professor endeavored to light a candle and make a difference, because someone in his past had done so for him - an unspoken tradition that reaches back into human history. One generation inspires the next.
Conscious of my responsibility to my own children, I find myself at the place where the question seems to be "what next." I've experienced highs and lows in both career and ministry, yet I find myself hesitant to look behind at what was. Rather, I feel compelled forward, to use the gifts God has given me for something new - something that will continue to shape me into what I'm destined to become. And while it is tempting to believe that there is nothing new to share that hasn't been written or taught better by someone else, it is also clear that every generation has to have its voices. A broken chain is lost history, lost identity, lost purpose.
These generations are at risk. We have a responsibility to speak truth. But we must ensure that our voices bring light to real people - otherwise, we merely curse the darkness.
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