yeah....Things will only get better

I found this off the notice board of my church. A very touching story that I vaguely recall reading about it before somewhere. Can't recall though. But nevertheless would like to share it with all.

In the April of 1986, two gray-haired men greeted each other warmly in Tokyo's International Airport. Both men had tears in their eyes. One man was an American named Ponich; the other was a Japanese named Ishibashi. The last time the two men met was forty years before as enemies in a cave in Okinawa.

At that time, the American, then Sergeant Ponich, was holding a five-year old Japanese boy in his arms. The child had been shot through both legs. Ishibashi was one of the two Japanese snipers hiding in a dark corner of the same cave. Suddenly, Ishibashi and his comrade leaped fro their hiding place, aimed their rifles at Ponich and prepared to fire point blank. There wasn't a thing Ponich could do. He simply put the five-year-old on the ground, took out his canteen and began to wash the child's wounds. If he had to die, he thought what better way to die than performing an act of mercy.

The two snipers watched in amazement. Then slowly, they lowered their rifles. Minutes later, Ponich did something Ishibashi never forgot. He took the child in his arms, stood up, bowed in gratitude to the two Japanese and took the child to an American field hospital.

How did the two men happen to meet again after all those years? In 1983, Ponich wrote a letter to a Tokyo newspaper thanking the Japanese people for the two Japanese soldiers who had spared his life forty years before in that cave in Okinawa. Ishibashi saw the letter and contacted the newspaper who set up the meeting.

The meeting was long and affectionate

How often do we hear such war time stories? Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy reading about the heroic acts of soldiers fighting for their motherland and the touching stories of comaradrie. Film directors are best at glorying them, producing action packed films that very over shawdow the true meaning of war films. I'm guilty of being a lover of action packed movies. Movies that make you go "wow" and keep you on the edge of your seats. The ex will testify to this. While I watched in excitement, she will take a nice nap in the theatres till everything's over.

Yes, I prefer films that doesn't require a lot of brain work. Life is already hard enough. Why should we subject ourselves to additional brain work( unnecessary too) at the cinemas when what we want is to relax and enjoy? No need to kill so much gray matter lah.. save some for later.