Comments on: Change for a Dollar

By: Skirnir Hamilton

Skirnir Hamilton — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:04:57 +0000

I have to say my main response to this video, if we lived in tv land… which we don’t. It is nearly impossible to know what we need in five minutes to help another human being. And I rarely believe it is possible to change another human beings life with one small thing except by pure chance. We can try all our lives to help others and really do little more than help them feel a tiny bit better for a few seconds. The futility of a life’s goal.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:53:45 +0000

The point, you have missed it. But that’s ok – I’m used to that from you by now.

By: AnnJo

AnnJo — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:12:58 +0000

Johanna, sometimes one person being helped is just one person being helped. It doesn’t have to solve all problems globally to be viewed without cynicism and disdain.

Most unemployed people today need a better economy, but any one unemployed person just needs a job.

There are those who dream that we could provide some grandiose systemic solution if only we could do away with some group or other (Republicans, the bourgoisie, those of a despised race or religion) that stands in the way of whatever they see as the obvious solution. Meanwhile, one unemployed person getting a job seems trivial in that context, but it matters to the person who gets it.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:16:32 +0000

The video is clever, I’ll give it that. And I know it’s supposed to be a fictional story. But it bothers me a little bit how it minimizes the real problems that people face. Most unemployed people need more than for someone to notice a Help Wanted sign for them. And the teenage runaway might have been running away from (and now going home to) an abusive family.

I’m glad that the lessons Trent draws from this don’t actually involve giving 20 cents to a total stranger and imagining that you’ve transformed their life for the better. But the examples he does give – putting time, attention, and love into the relationships you’re already a part of – those to me *are* big things. If it’s something that really matters, isn’t that by definition a big thing, not a little thing?

By: Gina

Gina — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:16:24 +0000

Wow, this movie was amazing. Thank you for sharing. I came home from work tonight after a busy and stressful day, sat down at my computer and watched this movie. Thank you for reminding me how fortunate I am -