You believe a man can change his destiny... I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

The Last Samurai (2003)
Emperor Meiji: Tell me how he died.
Algren: I will tell you how he lived.

Algren: There is Life in every breath...
Katsumoto: That is, Bushido.

Algren: I will miss our conversations.

Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

Algren: [shouting] What do you want from me?
Katsumoto: What do you want for yourself?

Katsumoto: The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.

Algren: This is Katsumoto's sword. He would have wanted you to have it. He hoped with his dying breath that you would remember his ancestors who held it, and what they died for. May the strength of the Samurai always be with you.

Algren: There was once a battle at a place called Thermopylae, where three hundred brave Greeks held off a Persian army of a million men... a million, you understand this number?
Katsumoto: I understand this number.

Algren: [narrating] They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seem such discipline. I am surprised to learn that the word Samurai means, 'to serve', and that Katsumoto believes his rebellion to be in the service of the Emperor.

Algren: [narrating] Winter, 1877. What does it mean to be Samurai? To devote yourself utterly to a set of moral principles. To seek a stillness of your mind. And to master the way of the sword.

Algren: [narrating] Spring, 1877. This marks the longest I've stayed in one place since I left the farm at 17. There is so much here I will never understand. I've never been a church going man, and what I've seen on the field of battle has led me to question God's purpose. But there is indeed something spiritual in this place. And though it may forever be obscure to me, I cannot but be aware of its power. I do know that it is here that I've known my first untroubled sleep in many years.

Emperor Meiji: My ancestors have ruled Japan for 2,000 years. And for all that time we have slept. During my sleep I have dreamed. I dreamed of a unified Japan. Of a country strong and independent and modern... And now we are awake. We have railroads and cannon and Western clothing. But we cannot forget who we are. Or where we come from.

Katsumoto: What happened to the warriors at Thermopylae?
Algren: Dead to the last man.

Higen: Will you fight the white men, too?
Algren: If they come here, yes.
Higen: Why?
Algren: Because they come to destroy what I have come to love.


300 (2006)

Xerxes: There will be no glory in your sacrifice. I will erase even the memory of Sparta from the histories! Every piece of Greek parchment shall be burned. Every Greek historian, and every scribe shall have their eyes pulled out, and their tongues cut from their mouths. Why, uttering the very name of Sparta, or Leonidas, will be punishable by death! The world will never know you existed at all!
King Leonidas: The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.

Dilios: "Remember us." As simple an order as a king can give. "Remember why we died." For he did not wish tribute, nor song, nor monuments nor poems of war and valor. His wish was simple. "Remember us," he said to me. That was his hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be. May all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones, "Go tell the Spartans, passerby, that here by Spartan law, we lie."

Stelios: It's an honor to die at your side.
King Leonidas: It's an honor to have lived at yours.

Queen Gorgo: Spartan!
King Leonidas: Yes, my lady?
Queen Gorgo: Come back with your shield, or on it.
King Leonidas: Yes, my lady.

Dilios: The old ones say we Spartans are descended from Hercules himself. Bold Leonidas gives testament to our bloodline. His roar is long and loud.

[Gorgo waking up from Leonidas stroking her back]
Queen Gorgo: Your lips can finish what your fingers have started... or has the Oracle robbed you of your desire as well?
King Leonidas: It would take more than the words than a drunken adolescent girl to rob me of my desire of you.

Messenger: What makes this woman think she can speak among men?
Queen Gorgo: Because only Spartan women give birth to real men.

Queen Gorgo: Freedom isn't free at all, that it comes with the highest of costs. The cost of blood.

King Leonidas: Then what must a king do to save his world when the very laws he has sworn to protect force him to do nothing?
Queen Gorgo: It is not a question of what a Spartan citizen should do, nor a husband, nor a king. Instead, ask yourself, my dearest love, what should a free man do?

Xerxes: It isn't wise to stand against me, Leonidas. Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.
King Leonidas: And I would die for any one of mine.

Spartan King Leonidas: Give them nothing! But take from them everything!

Dilios: "Goodbye my love." He doesn't say it. There's no room for softness... not in Sparta. No place for weakness. Only the hard and strong may call themselves Spartans. Only the hard, only the strong.

Dilios: Sire, any message...?
King Leonidas: For the Queen?
[Dilios nods. Leonidas removes the wolf's fang pendant from around his neck, and presses it into Dilios's hand]
King Leonidas: None that need be spoken.

Belief, faith, and will. These things ring throughout my head and heart of late. I wish to no longer question. Just to know for a bit what my plite is and stay the coarse without fear of rejection or mistake. How long can I go with minimal doubt of what's going on. This life is a rollercoaster. Often I go 2 or 3 days without any doubt. Considerable confidence and not a single thought of fear, loneliness, or anger, but then without warning as if the rug I had been standing on that had given me the strength to do, feel, and speak so had been taken from beneath my feet. I'm then left to wait for it to pass. What I've noticed more and more though is that the moment I can get out of myself, or listen to someone elses problems or thoughts I feel better.

I've wanted to site these movies for sometime. Trying to find a connection between them and me without stating the obvious because listed here are a variety of movies about war. I wouldn't consider myself a warrior nor have I really had an desire to kill. But I appreciate the simple man that can. I appreciate people that have that virtue. Something they believe in so much that they would give their life to uphold it. The more I think about it the more it rings true that that belief is their life force. Much similiar to a priest who believe god has indeed given him a calling.

In this modern age of man the struggles of man vs himself and environment is like war. You can't control what other people think about you but you can limit how much of yourself they get to see. Even though it's not said in the 300 but there's hints at it. It is said in The Last Samurai. Algren is sitting on the porch with the son of this warriors that he killed. The kid says in Japanesse that he would be afraid to die in battle and Algren says so would he and the kid is like but you've been in so many battles and Algeren is like I've been afraid everytime. One of the last quotes that I posted from the 300 is " Dilios: "Goodbye my love." He doesn't say it. There's no room for softness... not in Sparta. No place for weakness. Only the hard and strong may call themselves Spartans. Only the hard, only the strong. " I think that there's no place for weakness in the public eye. There is weakness but the point is to never show it.

I think the human condition is to share it. To have someone or a connection to someone to let that out. It's written in some of the texts I'm reading but not everyone is that person. I think it takes more patience just to find people of that likeness, that like you for you and have taken the time which is a lot longer than a couple of months to get to know that about you. I think women do see sensitive men as weak. While as other men or other sensitive men see it as normal. It's strange talking about it. But I've found that I find strength hearing other peoples insecurities. I don't feel completely overwhelmed by my past. What I might have done different does make me question. A friend said earlier tonight that until you have all your needs, habits, and solutions to satisfy and confront them honestly that it doesn't matter what other catylists or people or things you add to the mix. You need to dismantle yourself everyday. He countiued to say that before you had baggage or experiences that dictates your habits now, your emotions and feelings and reactions helped you get out of yourself, while now as I have noticed as well they hinder in the process. Which is why he preceeded to tell me other people and their take on things helps you.

He said help others. Which in simplicist terms is an ear and a hug. If you can do that for someone else it'll make it easier to accept it yourself. It helps in allowing yourself to be forgiven by forgiving someone else. Anyway just my thoughts tonight.