OK, I'm back but I don't know for how long.

This is a strange post for me, but it came, so what could I do but write it.

I was watching "The Last Samurai" this morning. Haven't finished it yet because my wife got up and when she's around I'd rather be with her than ensconced in earphones and laptop screen. I'm really not a Tom Cruise fan (I mean REALLY), but as I've said many time, I'll watch anything (Tom Green is my exception).

So the movie was about Japan, Samurais, war, fighting, honor, Japanese customs, all those things which you'd expect from a movie with a title "The Last Samurai." But is that what I've taken from the one hour and twenty-one minutes I've seen so far? Not me. Seems like no matter what movie I watch, my attention fastens upon just a few words, spoken in a minor scene, and finds a philosophy embedded in them.

Tom Cruise had killed a woman's husband in battle. She was forced by her leader to nurse Cruise back to health, to take care of him. Eventually, as will happen in movies, Cruise comes to understand the people around him and them him. As Cruise is leaving he comes upon the woman and thanks her for her kindness and says that he won't forget her actions.

And I got hung there. Her "kindness" wasn't given willingly. At one point she wanted her leader to kill her rather than have her take care of Cruise. But, to Cruise, it was kindness nonetheless. And it would affect him for the rest of his life, he wouldn't forget the sacrifice of her time, effort, and even mental state of grief and dislike of him. She didn't want to take care of him, she wanted to kill him.

And at the same time, this "kindness" affected her, make her a better person, for lack of a better description. It showed that she could rise above the vicissitudes of life, had the strength to help those in need, even those she hated. Funny thing, now that I think of it, this is one of the main lessons taught by Jesus, brought into a movie set in a land and culture in which he was scarcely known.

But "kindness" is a slippery subject. Here was a case where it was forced from one person by another. Yet it was perceived as kindness anyway by its recipient. What could it have achieved if it had been given willingly? I don't believe that kindnesses can often achieve such a result as presented in this movie if not given willingly. It is, after all, a movie. It attempts to portray real life, but is an imperfect reflection.

Can taxes taken from you be considered "kindnesses" if given to someone to help them? Are they appreciated by the recipient as Cruise appreciate the kindnesses shown him? Scarcely. Does the payment of the taxes make the "donor" feel they have achieved a kindness, brought some happiness to others? Scarcely.

Can living a life of kindness to others change the course of nations? Seldom, but it does happen. Usually in those cases it is not the kindness itself which has effect but the teaching of the way of kindness to the society. A wiser and kinder nation? Is such a thing possible?

Mainly, however, kindness works one-to-one. It affects the giver and the receiver. It can change the world, one person at a time. There is little kindness in most of today's world, because our world is built upon selfishness, each person looking out for themselves, trying to survive. To sacrifice that, to given unstintingly, is usually done only for those we love the most. Others need not apply.

So, today, you can start to change that. Show some kindness to someone you normally wouldn't, make a sacrifice of some kind to help another. You won't change the world, you probably won't even see any effect, but maybe, just maybe, one day someone will say that they'll never forget you for your kindnesses. And that one will live with you forever.