I recorded a movie on ABC a week ago called "Have a Little Faith". There was an episode of Dr. Phil about it and it looked interesting, so I DVR'd it. I finally got around to watching it tonight and was really impressed. Well, impressed doesn't seem like the right word. Ya know those moments of conviction, as a Christian (or probably a person of any religion) when God speaks when you didn't even know you should be listening? That's what I loved about this movie. Rabbi Louis was (and is, even in death) an inspirational man. At the beginning of the movie, Mitch Albom (author of the best-sellers Tuesdays With Morrie, 5 People You Meet in Heaven, and For One More Day) is asked by his childhood rabbi, Albert Louis, to give a eulogy at his funeral upon his death. This prompts years of visits between the author and rabbi so Albom can get to know the person he will be speaking about. My favorite parts of the movie are these visits. Rabbi Louis has a light-hearted and warm spirit and the way he explains his beliefs are so eloquent and simple (sound familiar?). Here is an example:
(As Rabbi Albert Louis and Mitch Albom pass a Hindu woman in the grocery store, she waves and says, "Hello, Rabbi.")
Louis: Nice young woman. Hindu. Fascinating religion. Such customs.
Albom: Aren't you supposed to cheerlead your own religion?
Louis: OUR own religion. I do. I think ours is an infinitely beautiful faith.
Albom: Well, if our religion is so special, how can you be supportive of others?
Louis: Did God make trees?
Albom: What?
Louis: Did God make trees?
Albom: Yeah.
Louis: Why trees? Why not a tree? I mean, he's God. What He makes is perfect, so why not one perfect tree for the whole earth? Instead, he gave us the oak, the spruce, the elm, the redwood. So maybe faith is the same: Many trees, the branches all going to him.
Albom: Have you looked at the world lately? The trees are attacking each other.
Louis: That's not faith. That's hate.
Albom: Engaged in the name of religion.
Louis: And wrongly. "Thou shalt not kill." "Honor thy neighbor." If I mean these things and the other guy means these things... What do ya get?
Albom: Peace on Earth.
Just a little something to think about, as we go into this holiday season.
Night y'all!
P.S. I highly recommend finding a way to see this movie, and I fully intend on purchasing and reading Mitch Albom's book Have a Little Faith, upon which the movie is based.
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