Gues Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a movie about love. Love with complications. When I first saw this movie I was in elementary school. I remember that I like the movie, but I was confused by it too. I didn't understand why everyone was against John and Joey. I asked my Mom and she told me because he is black and she is white. That didn't help me much. I still didn't know what the problem was.
What is really funny is that I was shocked by the bad language. It was the deepest impression the movie made on me. Words that where forbidden in my little world where in this movie and my mom didn't send me from the room. I think my mom thought there was a lesson to be learned that out weight her strong objects to certain word.
The funny thing is the lesson was lost on me. I had not learned to hate someone based on color so I didn't see any reason why the couple should not be wed. She had already done her job well. She didn't need to teach me not to hate based on race because she never taught me that there was a difference. She taught me that we are all the same, some of us have brown hair some have blond, some of us have darker skin and some of us have lighter skin but under those things we are all the same.
I saw the film again when I was a teenager. Again I saw a story about love but what made the impression on me was the dynamic between John and his father. There is a scene in the study where John and his father are fighting. John informs his father that since he brought him into the world he owned him the upbringing he had, but that now his life belongs to him and his father does not own him. He doesn't owe his father anything. The he yells at his father to get off his back. It was clear that yelling that to his father was hard and a relief for him. I had often wanted to yell something along those lines at my own father but lacked the courage to do it. There was something freeing for me to see someone else struggle with having respect for a parent and not wanting to hurt them but wanting them off your back. At this point in my life I understood what the big deal was but I still could not understand why people made it a big deal. I had learned about slavery, the kkk, and the civil rights movement in school and I still could not understand what the problem was. Even more I could not understand how someone could treat another human so poorly in the name of God.
The way I understand it God made all humans he loves all of us and he made us all different. Even twins are different from each other in personality. God loves each of his children and when he looks at us he sees our hearts not our skin. In fact I see great intelligent design in how he created us. In places where the sun is stronger he created people with more melatonin to protect them from burns and damage. Is that a sign that he loves them less? In places like England where the weather is far less sunny there wasn't a need for the melatonin and so the skin is less dark. In fact I believe in that environment is helpful in absorbing the good things the sun has to offer. What I see is a God that gave each group of people what would work best for them based on where he put them on this earth. In time people figured out how to travel all around this world of ours and we live in areas different then our ancestors. People met people of different them themselves. It is amazing how quickly we can corrupt God's design.
Christ was not a white man from the UK. He looked like the people of Israel not the people of Ireland. If a member of the KKK met Christ today would they try to hang him in his own name?
This movie is the story of love. Love that sees the heart not the skin. This world will never be a place of love until skin color stops being a factor. There are good and bad in all the races. Out of the good and the bad God loves each and every hair on each and every head.
I see race being use to justify bad behavior and unforgivable acts on both sides of the racial divide. Until race is just not a factor this will continue. People say they are not bigots then whisper something the closely resembles a racial slur. "All black people are lazy" or "All Asian's are dirty" or "All white people are bigots". There are lazy bigots who are dirty in every race it's time to look deeper then the skin.
When I meet someone for the first time I notice if they are male or female. Then I look to the signs of what kind of heart they have. I look at things like how they treat people around them, are they polite. I look to see if there is a sense of humor. Compassion is another thing I look for. I would be hard pressed to guess someones race if asked after meeting them. I see people, people that God loves. I am not sure how I managed to keep my childhood innocents on this but I was lucky enough that I did. I guess God created me to love my neighbors and he has allowed me to see people through his eyes.
Each time in my life a different part of the movie has caught my interest. This time I am a full grown women with a deep relationship with God. I have different interests then I did when I was younger. I am noticing things like the set and the lighting. I noticed that the writing is exceptional. The speeches are clear and heart felt. I notice the passion of the actors playing the parts. They are believable and I would guess that each one made the movie because they believed in the message the movie was sending. That tells me something about their hearts and I respect each as an actor more for it. Tonight if I had to pick on scene that moved me more then the rest it would be the final scene. Spencer Tracy gives his speech summing up the movie and gives his thoughts as a father of his daughter marring outside of her race. It is a scene of a fathers love. He sees that this couple will face trials but he loves his daughter and supports her love of John. Love is everything. He is a father who loves his daughter unconditionally. Tonight I find this movie reminding me of my father's love. Not my earthly father, oh he loves me unconditionally and he would do just about anything for me, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about my heavenly father. My heavenly father who created me to look deeper then the skin. My heavenly father who loves all of his children deeper then any human father could. My heavenly father who shows me a thousand times a day that he is loving and nurturing me in all that I do. My earthly father falls short on love all the time. He is human just like me. He always loves me but he doesn't always like me. I disappoint him and he disappoints me. We fight and yell and we make up. My heavenly father never disappoints and when this life gets hard he holds me tighter so I can feel him there with me. I am so thankful to know my heavenly father the way that I do. I am so thankful that he shows me everyday that he loves me like the father in this movie. My life may get hard sometimes but my heavenly father always has my back.
What is really funny is that I was shocked by the bad language. It was the deepest impression the movie made on me. Words that where forbidden in my little world where in this movie and my mom didn't send me from the room. I think my mom thought there was a lesson to be learned that out weight her strong objects to certain word.
The funny thing is the lesson was lost on me. I had not learned to hate someone based on color so I didn't see any reason why the couple should not be wed. She had already done her job well. She didn't need to teach me not to hate based on race because she never taught me that there was a difference. She taught me that we are all the same, some of us have brown hair some have blond, some of us have darker skin and some of us have lighter skin but under those things we are all the same.
I saw the film again when I was a teenager. Again I saw a story about love but what made the impression on me was the dynamic between John and his father. There is a scene in the study where John and his father are fighting. John informs his father that since he brought him into the world he owned him the upbringing he had, but that now his life belongs to him and his father does not own him. He doesn't owe his father anything. The he yells at his father to get off his back. It was clear that yelling that to his father was hard and a relief for him. I had often wanted to yell something along those lines at my own father but lacked the courage to do it. There was something freeing for me to see someone else struggle with having respect for a parent and not wanting to hurt them but wanting them off your back. At this point in my life I understood what the big deal was but I still could not understand why people made it a big deal. I had learned about slavery, the kkk, and the civil rights movement in school and I still could not understand what the problem was. Even more I could not understand how someone could treat another human so poorly in the name of God.
The way I understand it God made all humans he loves all of us and he made us all different. Even twins are different from each other in personality. God loves each of his children and when he looks at us he sees our hearts not our skin. In fact I see great intelligent design in how he created us. In places where the sun is stronger he created people with more melatonin to protect them from burns and damage. Is that a sign that he loves them less? In places like England where the weather is far less sunny there wasn't a need for the melatonin and so the skin is less dark. In fact I believe in that environment is helpful in absorbing the good things the sun has to offer. What I see is a God that gave each group of people what would work best for them based on where he put them on this earth. In time people figured out how to travel all around this world of ours and we live in areas different then our ancestors. People met people of different them themselves. It is amazing how quickly we can corrupt God's design.
Christ was not a white man from the UK. He looked like the people of Israel not the people of Ireland. If a member of the KKK met Christ today would they try to hang him in his own name?
This movie is the story of love. Love that sees the heart not the skin. This world will never be a place of love until skin color stops being a factor. There are good and bad in all the races. Out of the good and the bad God loves each and every hair on each and every head.
I see race being use to justify bad behavior and unforgivable acts on both sides of the racial divide. Until race is just not a factor this will continue. People say they are not bigots then whisper something the closely resembles a racial slur. "All black people are lazy" or "All Asian's are dirty" or "All white people are bigots". There are lazy bigots who are dirty in every race it's time to look deeper then the skin.
When I meet someone for the first time I notice if they are male or female. Then I look to the signs of what kind of heart they have. I look at things like how they treat people around them, are they polite. I look to see if there is a sense of humor. Compassion is another thing I look for. I would be hard pressed to guess someones race if asked after meeting them. I see people, people that God loves. I am not sure how I managed to keep my childhood innocents on this but I was lucky enough that I did. I guess God created me to love my neighbors and he has allowed me to see people through his eyes.
Each time in my life a different part of the movie has caught my interest. This time I am a full grown women with a deep relationship with God. I have different interests then I did when I was younger. I am noticing things like the set and the lighting. I noticed that the writing is exceptional. The speeches are clear and heart felt. I notice the passion of the actors playing the parts. They are believable and I would guess that each one made the movie because they believed in the message the movie was sending. That tells me something about their hearts and I respect each as an actor more for it. Tonight if I had to pick on scene that moved me more then the rest it would be the final scene. Spencer Tracy gives his speech summing up the movie and gives his thoughts as a father of his daughter marring outside of her race. It is a scene of a fathers love. He sees that this couple will face trials but he loves his daughter and supports her love of John. Love is everything. He is a father who loves his daughter unconditionally. Tonight I find this movie reminding me of my father's love. Not my earthly father, oh he loves me unconditionally and he would do just about anything for me, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about my heavenly father. My heavenly father who created me to look deeper then the skin. My heavenly father who loves all of his children deeper then any human father could. My heavenly father who shows me a thousand times a day that he is loving and nurturing me in all that I do. My earthly father falls short on love all the time. He is human just like me. He always loves me but he doesn't always like me. I disappoint him and he disappoints me. We fight and yell and we make up. My heavenly father never disappoints and when this life gets hard he holds me tighter so I can feel him there with me. I am so thankful to know my heavenly father the way that I do. I am so thankful that he shows me everyday that he loves me like the father in this movie. My life may get hard sometimes but my heavenly father always has my back.
posted by Chris | 7:03 PM
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