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Good
morning <$firstname$>,
I
have never liked Jim Carrey as an actor much, most of the
movies he stars in tend to be a bit silly in my view - but
“Bruce
Almighty” is different, I enjoyed it.
The
script is very clever : Bruce Nolan is desperate and complains
to God that he is not doing a good job because everything
is going wrong in what he perceives to be his mediocre life
in small town Buffalo/New York.
So
God now gives him all his super-powers for a while - can
Bruce do better than God himself?
Morgan
Freeman as God - in an immaculate white suit - calmly
goes on vacation now, while Bruce goes overboard to get
everything he ever wanted on earth for himself. His main
ambition as a TV reporter is to become the news anchor on
his network, although one of his colleagues is first in
line for that.
You
can imagine all the havoc Jim Carrey as Bruce creates in
the process - not only in town with his new Ferrari, but
also in far away places like Japan when he ropes in the
moon for his girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) who desperately
wants to marry him.
The
film is very entertaining, and many of us would probably
overlook the messages it has for us. One of them is that
even divine strength ends where human free will sets in
: Bruce arranges the most outlandish situations for himself
to look good professionally, but alienates everyone else
in the process – he still doesn’t know that selfish
behaviour without any consideration for others will eventually
come back and haunt you.
Treat
others like you want to be treated yourself. Why? Because
the world you experience is a mirror-image of who you are
inside, your attitudes and behaviour. This is one of the
Universal
Laws of Human Nature that can not be broken or ignored.
Nevertheless,
Bruce becomes famous as a newsman who is always first on
the scene of dramatic action - but he cannot cope with literally
millions of prayers addressed to God every day.
He
finally surrenders to divine will and voluntarily hands
back the guidance for his life to a higher authority.
At
that point it dawns on him that he never really needed the
extra powers granted to him : like you and me, he had all
the qualities and talents required to make his life successful
to begin with, but wasn’t aware of it.
All
it took was some respect and service for, not power over
his fellow man. 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely' - Lord Acton wrote that in a letter
to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 and he has never been
proven wrong yet.
The
receiving process starts with giving - service without concern
for your own gain is the key to your happiness.
Bruce
has a unique talent to entertain and when he eventually
settles back into his old job with humility and begins to
share his appreciation for others in the local community,
he wins more influence than he ever had and is transformed
into a successful human being.
His
genuine concern for the wellbeing of others makes him a
better reporter, and we're left in no doubt that he now
earns a bright future by first mastering what he is confronted
with here and now.
There
is no such thing as a mediocre life in Small Town, we all
have something important to contribute wherever we are -
just know it, do it and be yourself.
Until
next time, all the best from :
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