This is the realization that Wendell Jamieson has still not had. He thinks that his life will be best if he can string together enough fun experiences as possible. Life is good if he can go to the right club, be seen at the right party, or sleep with the right girl (presumably). Everything is just one long party, because he has never known need.
Who knows? Maybe Mr. Jamieson can go on like that his whole life, and the wolf will never be at his door. That would be nice, because if Mr. Wolf does show up, Mr. Jamieson is not going to have a clue what to do.
I think of the scene in the movie where the Baileys are moving Mr. Martini's family into their new house. They give them three gifts: Bread - so the house will never know hunger, Salt - so life will always have flavor, and Wine - so that good times and happiness will be theirs. But notice, the first gift is bread. This talk of starvation is immediately contrasted with Sam Wainwright, with his flashy girlfriend and sleek chaffuer-driven limousine. George Bailey is left with nothing but his beat up old car and Mary. Of course, Mary is Mary, so that is enough.
With everything that is going on with the economy, these days, the Mr. Wolf is closer to the door than he has been in a long, long time. As I was telling My Favorite Liberal the other day, it is a good time to be an Ant. We have been cautious with our money, saving and diversifying and doing all the things you should do, and now we are in a situation where we can weather these times with a fair amount of confidence. We have been Ants. Meanwhile, a lot of our friends have been Grasshoppers, leveraging their houses, spending like there is no tomorrow, and pursuing lucrative, but speculative, career paths. For the Grasshoppers, things are looking pretty bad, these days.
George Bailey was the Ultimate Ant. And when times got tough, he got through, as ants always do.