This is Iowa
I watched Field of Dreams for the first time in a long time this evening. I’ve been wanting to watch it for a couple of months and I’m pretty sure they only just released it on iTunes to rent as it wasn’t there the last time I checked.
I love the film. It pretty much ticks all the boxes and does well to stay on the right side of a wheel of sweating brie. I think “if you build it, he will come” is a pretty strong message. Not taken literally, of course. While hitting a deep fly ball from our back porch would likely involve breaking a shop window down the street, thinking about “if you build it he will come” in other less literal ways could still be useful.
Once again, at the local residents and traders social tonight, I found myself in a conversation revolving around the belief in making quality things and allowing interest in them to build slowly, but steadily. Watching Field of Dreams underlined that conversation and at this point in time I think it is the best thing I can remind myself of every day and a good way to stave off bitterness / laziness / low self-confidence. If you build it with quality, people will respond with quality.
The other great message of the film is that heaven can be where we are – in Ray Kinsella’s case, Iowa. It is not always necessarily waiting for us in the future, but can exist in our present. As St. Catherine said “all the way to heaven is heaven.”