Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

We tend to be behind the curve on movies. It has been a long time since we went to the movie theater. We wait for them to come out on DVD or our streaming service. Current movies to us are actually ones that have been out for a while.

Recently we watched Tom Hanks in, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

Neither of us grew up watching “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” We were both aware of the show and have seen bits and pieces, but it wasn’t one we watched. We both watched “Captain Kangaroo.” I am not sure that these two shows would work with today’s shortened-attention-span kids.

Naturally, we like to watch Tom Hanks in about anything he does. He has the powerful ability to disappear into the character he is playing. Since neither of us watched Mr. Rogers, we weren’t busy trying to comparing the two of them. We just enjoyed the movie.

The movie is really about a journalist who is assigned the task of writing a story about Mr. Rogers. The journalist asks Mr. Rogers at one point why he is attracted to broken people. Mr. Rogers smiles and tells him that he isn’t broken. He then reminds him of several very critical things that are building blocks to help this character turn around.

As I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but think that we all need a Mr. Rogers in our corner. We all need to be reminded that we are loved and appreciated. Sometimes the circumstances of life can blind us with pain, suffering, and loss. I also think that worry and anxiety can keep us from seeing the world and those around us.

We are all destined to walk through difficult things in life. We have a choice.

We can walk through them alone or we can lean on friends and loved ones to help us see more clearly who we are and how much we mean to those around us.

In the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Baily doesn’t understand the impact he’s had on the world around him until the angel shows him. Each of us is broken in some way, and we need friends or an angel to help us see ourselves and our little corner of the world from a fresh perspective.

We need our friends and our family when our minds feel overwhelmed by all that is going on in the world around us.

This coronavirus has shaken all of our worlds. So I need you and you need me.

Maybe the best thing we can all do is watch a little less news and spend a little more time with each other…as long as we stay at least six feet apart. We can watch a movie, play a game or maybe go for a walk. We need to engage with each other, help each other to laugh, encourage one another and help to lift this heavy burden we are all carrying.

We need family. We need friends. We also need to check on our neighbors.

In our country we have seen hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, ice storms, fires, earthquakes and many other tragedies…and what happens? We come together for each other. It doesn’t matter who we are, we are there for each other.

I saw in one of the memorials for Kenny Rogers that he was a part of the song, “We are the World.” We need to come together like that again. We may come from different backgrounds, but we are all brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors in this world. In moments like this we have learned how to put down our differences and come together as one.

I strongly believe that everything the enemy intended for evil through the coronavirus, God can turn into something good. We will be there for our neighbors, friends and family. We will come together in unity to discover the victory and overcome this evil with good. I believe that love triumphs over all sorts of evil.

I want to encourage you to check on your family, friends and neighbors. Help in any way that you are able. We are all able to pray, so lift us those who are suffering whether it is from health or economic issues.

We serve a God who is more than able to meet our needs. I need you to make it through these troubled times, and somehow I believe that you need me, too.

If we can act like good neighbors to each other we will overcome and come out better on the other side.

Doug Creamer, a former North Stanly High teacher, writes an inspiration column for The SNAP. Contact Doug at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.