The future is right before your eyes.....

I love film festivals. I mean love. That strong passionate kind of love - from the heart, from the spine, bursting through my pupils kind of love. And like most of the best loves of my life, it's all about the people.

This weekend, I took the opportunity to interview a handful of the student filmmakers competing in the West Virginia International Film Festival's annual event. This year, the competition was moved to Summer to give it an entire weekend and focus on up and coming filmmakers in West Virginia. So, instead of four hours to get a hint at what's possible for students with a camera and a vision; the entire weekend was spent looking at the works of the state's future filmmakers.

Hope, passion, inspiration - you see it in the eyes of the future. Youthful, excited filmmakers who wanted to talk about their work. Talk about what gave them belief in their own dreams. Talk of the people whose sweat and effort allowed them to touch their dreams. Talk about the future they see in their own lives.

I'm constantly amazed at people who don't have an ounce of these emotions in their lives. People who dread tomorrow and drudge through today. I think this happens slow as they begin to have fewer and fewer other people reflecting these things back to them. It's a big reason I love teaching, and it proves a quote I have my whole heart in.

Association leads to assimilation. My Grandma Brown would have said the same thing by, "Show my friends, and I'll tell you who you are." It's true. And it's true not just of your friends, but all the people you spend time with, all the people who see in the world, and all the people you admire.

I was told the other day that there are bad people in this world. Yeah, there are. But there are some great people, too. You can't get rid of the bad people, but if you focus on the great ones, spend some time with the you hopeful ones, and nurture the ones who haven't made that decision yet - you'll be a better person.

That's all we can ask from ourselves and those around us. Just try to be a better person than the people you don't want to be like. Sometimes, it just takes being around some other people who want to be better too.

j.brown