The message of “woke” culture is acceptance and diversity, yet it’s often a flimsy façade for forced conformity. For instance, genetic counseling, routine ultrasounds during pregnancy, and abortion on demand are used by the modern medical industry to encourage the elimination of “imperfect” or “undesirable” human beings before they have even been born. Although the media now paints past generations as routinely prejudiced and bigoted toward underprivileged people, many classic movies show that this isn’t true.
Today’s moment of movie wisdom is from “Close to My Heart” (1951), starring Ray Milland and Gene Tierney. The scene is 87 minutes into this 90-minute movie. In the scene, husband Brad Sheridan (Milland) tries to convince the matron of an adoption agency, Mrs. Morrow (Fay Bainter), that he finally understands that babies grow into respectable people or criminals based on the upbringing, guidance, and love their families give them, not their inherent nature. He tries to persuade her that he loves the baby they’ve been fostering, Danny, as much as his wife, Midge (Tierney), does.
Brad and Midge Sheridan are a young married couple who love each other very much. However, the wife feels that their life is missing something. She’s just found out that she will never be able to have a baby. Brad thinks that they can fill the void by getting a puppy, but Midge will never be truly happy until she can be a mother. They decide to adopt a child, but they are very discouraged to learn that the process could take years. However, Midge thinks she has found a way to get around the waiting list when she hears about a foundling who was left at a police station, an infant boy named Danny.
She is dismayed to learn that they still have to go through the adoption agency, and she grows very attached to Danny through visiting him during the ensuing months. She is terrified that he will be adopted by another family further up on the list, but none of the other prospective parents are interested in him because of his questionable parentage as a foundling. Midge couldn’t care less about Danny’s background, but Brad is concerned about adopting a child who could come from bad stock. He begins secretly investigating the baby’s background, which leads him down some dark paths.
The Scene
This scene takes place in Mrs. Morrow’s dark office one night. She and Brad are the only two people in that room. By this point in the story, Brad has learned the whole truth about Danny’s parents. It was a complicated process of investigation which jeopardized his relationship with Midge, because she couldn’t understand how he could act so heartlessly. As a newspaper columnist by trade, Brad uses his skills to stay detached from his personal connection to the case and simply look for the facts. Even beyond his search for the true story of Danny’s birth, Brad strives to keep himself from getting emotionally involved with the boy. He doubts they’ll ever be able to have the child, so he thinks it’s best for him and Midge to avoid getting attached to him. Midge can’t help it, though; she loves him as soon as she hears about him, and she is completely smitten once she sees him.
When Mrs. Morrow learned of Brad’s investigations about Danny’s parents, she asked him to stop. In fact, she did more than ask. She told him that his continued sleuthing would make the adoption agency remove him and Midge from the list of prospective couples. That didn’t stop Brad, however; he was driven by fears of taking in and loving a child as their own who could be a bad seed, as happened to some neighbors. When he finally returns to his home, having uncovered the truth about Danny, he is greeted very coldly by Midge. She tells him that they’ve lost the opportunity to adopt Danny because of his attitude toward the child; the probation officers have even taken him back to the orphanage. There’s nothing for Brad to do but go to Mrs. Morrow that very night and prove to her that he loves Danny as much as Midge does.
Its Significance
When Danny learns from the probation officer that the baby his wife has grown to love so dearly has been promised to another couple, he desperately pleads with Mrs. Morrow. She explains that this couple knows all about Danny. “And like Midge, they realized instinctively that a baby, any baby, is something new and unique upon this earth, the only thing living with no past, only a future.”Two Lessons
This intense scene teaches two beautiful lessons. First, it’s an important reminder that you can’t write off any child’s potential of having a good quality of life as a productive member of society. Even if the child comes from a bad background, is prone to genetic defects, or could have health problems, he deserves the chance to make as much of his life as possible, before and after birth.Secondly, it reminds us that what makes the difference in a child’s development isn’t heredity; it’s the love and care of nurturing parents. To grow into decent, hardworking human beings, babies need parents who will nourish and tend their children’s souls as well as their bodies.
