Spiritual Side: Family

The scene I shared on Friday (click here) gave me food for thought. During that scene Larry, Moe, and Curly swiftly yank their coveralls off revealing their crisp please-adopt-me clothing beneath, and I found myself reflecting on families. Even as adults, they hoped for adoption, and desired to belong to a family.

All humans are born into a family; even if they never laid eyes on them, they have a mother, father, and grandparents somewhere. Many people have less than ideal family situations, yet, it seems that most reach a point (if only for a brief time) where they wish they had a loving family. Substitute families often fill that void. Consider teams, workplaces, clubs, gangs, and other groups who refer to themselves "like family."

Do you have a perfect family? Yeah, that's what I thought. They don't exist...on earth. So why do people desire that connection? Because it's part of our divine nature. We are children of God. The feeling of family ties, or the desire to belong to a family, exists deep within us, "...the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." (See: The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Because family themes are universal, they are often found in films. And since mortal families are anything but perfect, family themes provide situations for comedy, tragedy, conflict, love, spite, forgiveness, acceptance, and...well, you name it. Great fodder for film. But as imperfect as families are, there's still "no place like home," so I found it believable (and touching) that three grown men, such as Larry, Moe, and Curly, still hoped for adoption.

Reflecting on adults longing for parents also made me think of the movie Twins (1988). The following clip shows the scene where Julius (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vincent (Danny DeVito) are united with their birth mother. Vincent felt abandoned and unwanted most of his life, so the hopeful, yearning, expressions that cross his face as he realizes his "mama" stands before him, are priceless.