"NOT A DAY TO BE HAPPY!"

It was the day before the Israeli Memorial Day, the most important non-religious holiday in Israel.  I was living in Tel Aviv, where I was spending a year writing and directing a new television series called "AGAINST ALL ODDS: In Search of a Miracle".  I had just entered my apartment building and was walking up the stairs, when I saw one of my neighbors, a young man who lived on the floor below.  Proud of the fact I had recently learned the Hebrew expression for 'Happy Holiday',  I smiled and called out "Chag Sameach" as we approached. But instead of returning the greeting, my neighbor turned to me and almost tearfully responded, "This is NOT a day to be happy!  It is a day to remember!

I had deeply offended this young man because I had yet to learn how seriously, almost reverently, Israelis honor those who have died in the service of their country's freedom.  Back home, most of US would be planning a big picnic or a trip to the beach or a shopping spree for the big "Memorial Day Sale" - but not here.  Thankfully, my neighbor accepted my apology and we remained friends.   But I could have avoided my blunder had I taken the time to learn more about the culture of Israel before I got there.  Granted I had visited many times.  But I had never actually LIVED there as a resident as I was doing then.

The next morning, on the 'eve' before Memorial Day itself (an Israeli day begins at sundown), I was in a taxi on busy Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.  Suddenly, without warning, the driver stopped the car and got out.  I looked around to see that EVERY driver had stopped and was doing the same thing.  On the street, waiters in the outdoor cafes stopped waiting on customers.  Teenagers got off their bicycles.  Pedestrians stopped walking.  Everyone stopped doing what they were doing.  In the distance a siren could be heard.  I looked at my watch.  It was 10 o'clock in the morning.  After a minute, the siren ended and everyone went on their way.  My driver got back in the car and silently drove on to my destination.   I later learned the scene had been repeated everywhere in Israel, even on the freeways, as five lanes of cars, trucks, and buses stopped wherever they were and their occupants got out and stood in a moment of honor for the dead. It was one of the most moving experiences of my first year living in Israel.

Ever since that experience, I have made a point of trying to be more aware and sensitive to other cultures and traditions whenever I travel.   I encourage you to do the same. If you are a television or film professional, you will almost for certain someday have the opportunity to experience a culture other than your own, be it a different social group in your own country or an entirely different people in an exotic distant land.  When those times come, make every effort to learn the traditions and customs, to know the social mores and taboos, to find someone who can mentor you on cultural etiquette in the place you are going BEFORE you get there.  Then find someone who will also mentor your manners after you arrive.  The result will be an enriched experience for you and a more pleasant relationship with those you meet -- and that WILL be a day to be Happy!

MERE COINCIDENCE?

I was in Manila, The Philippines, shooting a television special with Dr. Billy Graham.  We filmed his message before an audience of  nearly 100,000 people in Rizal Park, near historic Manila Hotel that served as headquarters for Douglas MacArthur in World War II,  We then traveled around the country shooting other segments for the hour special.  I was stirred by the visit to Corregidor, where MacArthur famously uttered his promise "I shall return".  But I was unprepared for the site that greeted us at the entrance to the sprawling American military cemetery just outside Manila.  A sea of white marble crosses and Stars of David stretch as far as the eye can see and beyond, in every direction.  It is a moving site that reminds the visitor of the enormity of the sacrifice that has been made to keep us free.

I filmed a sequence with Dr. Graham with the cemetery behind him as he compared the sacrifice made by these young men and women for our political freedom with the sacrifice of Christ for our spiritual freedom.  When he finished,  I kept the crew behind to shoot 'B' roll footage of the cemetery to be inserted later in editing the sequence for television.

It occurred to me that it would be powerful to reveal the cemetery by starting on the name of someone with a mid-western 'All American next door boy' sounding name, then pull back to reveal a sea of markers as far as the eye could see.   The names are etched into the white marble of the markers so any name would only be recognizable for a couple of seconds before the bright sun would cause the name to blend into the marble, but I knew it would be powerful for those who caught those two seconds.   To make sure I had choices in editing, we filmed a dozen or so different markers in the same way, each time beginning on a different name, then pulling back to dramatically reveal the thousands of markers.

We finished filming, came home, and I screened all the footage.   I selected one of the several shots we had filmed at the cemetery, added music and narration, mastered the show and sent it off to broadcast.

The morning after the national telecast, I received a phone call from our Chicago office, asking if I'd heard the news?  What news?  Apparently the night before, an elderly gentleman was watching the program who, along with his brother, had fought in World War II.    His brother had gone missing in action during the war and the War Department  had lost all trace of what had happened to him.  The old man had long ago stopped praying to find his brother, but still he wondered what ever happened to him.  He sat down to watch Billy Graham as he had often done before.  But as he listened to Dr. Graham's message, the image dissolved to a small  white marble marker in a cemetery on the other side of the world, a marker that bore the name of his long lost brother.  The sun quickly overpowered the etched image and it blended with the white marble of thousands of others across the vast sea of the dead.  But in those brief two seconds, 35 years of wondering, praying, and longing were answered.  He had found his brother.

By the next morning, the network news had learned of what happened.  Radio commentator Paul Harvey reported the story to the nation.  A few days later the old man was on a plane to visit his brother's grave.

I've thought about that story many times.  Just coincidence?   Why did I choose to film that sequence at the cemetery?  Corregidor or somewhere else would have provided a dramatic backdrop as well.  Arriving at the cemetery, I could have set up my camera anywhere - in hundreds of spots on those hillsides,   I could  have then chosen any of dozens of markers near where we set up.  Returning to LA, I still had a dozen very good choices for the shot I eventually used.  Why THAT one?   Why was that elderly veteran watching that night?  A glance away from the screen for two seconds and he would have never found his brother's grave.   But I DID choose that marker and this dear man WAS watching and he DID find his brother.   As Paul Harvey ended his newscast by saying 'And that's the REST of the story'.

Whatever YOU may think, I believe I was unwittingly guided in all those choices by a loving God who who had chosen to use me to be part of answering this old man's prayer to know his brother's fate and be able to say 'goodbye' after 35 years.


Never under-estimate God's ability to use you in ways you don't know, to accomplish His will on behalf of someone you may never meet or know -- but whose life you will touch because God used you.  He's doing it  in all of our lives, more often, I dare say,  than any of us will ever know on this side of eternity.  Mere coincidence?  I don't think so!