Suzy

Introduction
History is not easily recounted. This may not seem to be so, as each of us recollects many important events of our lives. We also know a great deal about the events of other people's lives. It would seem that we would gain an accurate picture of our History by putting together our memories. But, that is not at all the case ...

Were it so simple, we would have long ago established an accurate, indisputable accounting of our History. The difficulty of the problem is illustrated in that perennial favorite, It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) starring James Stewart. In the film, George Bailey's Guardian Angel, Clarence, solves the problem of historical accounting by demonstrating the world without George Bailey. That demonstration follows a lengthy exposition of what the world is like with George Bailey which is, of course, the world of George Bailey's memory. The comparison of the remembered and demonstrated worlds makes it easy for George Bailey to see how worthy his life is, and to choose it regardless of his difficulties.

George knows he is in the world of his living when he finds flower petals given him by his daughter, Suzy. For George Bailey, Frank Capra has conveniently provided markers of the positive world distinguishing it from the negative one. The film simplifies the problem of assigning "causes" and "effects" in History, because an accurate track can be developed by comparison. By that device, Mr. Capra intended the film to encourage each viewer to reaffirm personal worthiness, which it accomplishes.

Unfortunately, such a comparison is not usually available to detemine the good or ill anyone does. We are stuck with just one side of the comparison. In our world, there are no telltale Suzy's petals to distinguish which Universe we happen to be in. In our world, we only remember vaguely what happened to us in our lives, not what might have happened in all possible lives.

Capra's deus ex machina is on such a large scale that we do not at first recognize that old device. The fact is Clarence would have required the power of all the gods to create an alternate world. In the film, we are only focussed on a small part of town, the alternate creation of Capitalism, Potterville. Our attention is drawn away from the larger principle of this alternate world; that it must be part of an alternate Universe. That there must be an entire alternate Universe follows from the principle of connections proposed in the small example. Pottervile is connected to the rest of the world, a world conveniently hidden behind the camera in Capra's film. But we know that world exists, because the proof of change is given in terms of the larger events of that world. For example, George's brother doesn't live to prevent a troopship from being sunk in the Potterville world. Thus, to demonstrate the worthiness of George Bailey, Clarence creates an alternate Universe, which also implies that every act penetrates completely every other scene. Everything is connected to everthing.

Capra's comparison of alternate Universes points out the requirements of traditional "causation." We have to have side-by-side slates showing what happens when an event does or does not happen, together with all the connections to other events. If we think of the events as captured in a hologram, the world plus or minus an event will be different in certain bands. Without the difference spectrum, it is impossible to assign exact causality; there is only speculation.

If we do not have available to us Capra's Angel magic in deciding what is true or false in History, we at least can use the notion of connections in determining the facts. One thing connects to another thing, for whaever reason, and the whole thing must "hang together," or converge. If one connection undermines or cuts another, something must be wrong with the whole. In that, I rely on the simple idea of "consistency;" i.e., the proposed network must be composed of connections that do not deny or destroy each other. Incompatible connections might stand alone, if the world is a field of unconnected events, but a network requires that connections "co-operate." This is still not Suzy's petals, but it is a better criterion than none at all.

Suzy's Petals