Long haul flight to LA. Another 17 hours to kill. What else, if not with dining, movies, and music? Oh ya… with sleep as well, of course.

I checked the KrisWorld movie list and … it is still May 2007 selection. Usually, towards the end of the month they will have replaced the entertainment menu with the one for the following month. I guess I probably am a few days too early.

Anyway, there are a couple of movies I still want to watch. I haven’t been going to the cinema for quite a long time, so my chance of catching movies is onboard the plane and DVD rental…

I am catching Letters of Iwo Jima this time. And as usual, when I was watching the movie, words start flying around in my head. So many things to think about. I am not reviewing movies, btw. For storyline and critique, please refer to the reviews dished out by so many other websites and/or blogs. I am just jotting down the things I think about when I watch a movie. And you’ll see that my mind can wander around so far…

They are just normal human being. Just like us.

Whenever people talked about WWII here in this part of the world, one could not help but feeling resentment towards Japan. The atrocities committed during the war are undeniable. Regardless of the effort of some politicians to erase that from history, the plight of so many people during the war was real.

Nevertheless, Letters of Iwo Jima helped us to see beyond that. When it boils down to the individuals involved in the war, most of the soldiers —Japanese, Americans, or whatever nationalities— are just normal human being just like us. They are somebody’s sons, or husbands, that were plucked out of their families to go to war, whether they wanted it or not. They want the same things in life —love, family, happiness.

This reminds me of one of the point made in Advanced Negotiation training. In the advanced negotiation, we were taught to take care more of the environment and background conversations. And it involves knowing the other parties’ background as well. You need to know who is sitting on the other side of the table. And realize that he or she, is just like you. They are somebody’s husband or wife, who, at the end of the day, just want to provide for their families. They have needs and wants, that they seek to fulfilled by doing the work. Understanding them makes them more human to you.

And realizing that makes you realize that there is no point in squeezing the other parties to death in the negotiation. Being ruthless may get you an excellent result once. Or twice. Or maybe several times. But what good does it do to your conscience? And your reputation?

It was frustrating, not being able to communicate when you need to.

During the war, or even in the battles, communication is key. At one point in the battle, General Kuribayashi was unable to get in touch with his people. The messengers were not coming back. He was unable to make an effective strategy as the results. It was simply frustrating.

In fact, I think communication is key in almost everything. In relationship, of course. I remember how difficult it was to communicate with Ms. LYH, my ex from China. She liked to move around. From our company, she joined Motorola. Then Nestle. And afterwards, GE. All in the course of 2 years. A bit of a jobhopper, maybe?

During her stint in Nestle, she was tasked as an engineer for Nestle’s bottled water, Pure Life. If you understand the nature of bottled water facility, you know that their facility usually is not located in big cities. And rightly so. In Northern China, their location is some small city whose name I do not even recall. As the consequence, it was very difficult to connect with her. Phone lines were bad and expensive. We could chat over the internet, but boy… the frustration that we got whenever it was down (which was often, btw).

It is simply frustrating when you could not connect or communicate, when you need it the most.

You need a friend to watch your back.

And that’s what Lt. Col. Nishi was to Gen. Kuribayashi. Somebody that he can see eye-to-eye with. Somebody he can lay down his guards to. Somebody to enjoy dining and drinking with.

And most importantly, somebody that will watch his back. Don’t we need a friend like that in our lives? Somebody that will warn us in our workplace. Pointed out what to watch out whenever reviews coming up. Or whenever there is problem in the workplace.

The same thing goes for relationships. I have found myself several times to be in the position where I find out about the infidelity of my friend’s boyfriend. Not a nice position to be in. Especially if the boyfriend is also my friend. That makes it even more complicated.

But my actions are almost always the same. If I knew for sure about it (not just a wild guess or my own imagination) and if I am close enough to that friend, I would alert her. The rest is up to her to decide. If I am close enough to her, she would know that I am not just being nosy or gossipy. And the reason why I do this? Simply because I think, if I were in the same position as my friend’s, I would want my friend to alert me. I would want somebody to watch my back.

What I don’t know might hurt me. If I don’t know it, it may not hurt me. At least for now. But what if I find out about it later? So… rather than being hurt later, I would rather that I know now.

It’s always good for me to know.

You make your own choices.

Nothing new, obviously. It has always been said that life is about making choices. And you make your own choices in life. There is no such thing as ‘If only I don’t have to…’

Gen. Kuribayashi made his choice to go to war in Iwo Jima. Yes, it was an assignment, but it was an assignment that he accepted. And he knew the consequences of making such choice. One of the lines he mentioned that stands out in my memory is this, “I decided to fight to the end for my family. But the thought of my family makes it more difficult for me to do it.”

Even Saigo, the humble soldier, made his choice too. Though he was sent to war out of his own wish, he chose to go along with it. That was his choice. He also chose to stay alive. He decided to run when he was supposed to commit suicide. And he talked the others into letting him alive. This was his other choice.

I have often said, “If only I don’t have to go on this business trip”. I’ve said it so many times. Yes, I was reluctant to go, but actually… that was the choice I made. Or rather, the consequences of the choice I made. If I chose to stay in this line of work, travel is unavoidable. My function simply travels more frequently than all the other functions. The higher up you go in the organization, the more frequent it becomes.

So… yes, it was my choice. But I can also be choiceful in terms of which trips I should go. Only travel when it is necessary. And push back whenever I can. I happily see in my calendar now that there won’t be any long trips after this 2-wk US trip. The next one is India in October. With some Bangkok and Vietnam trips in between. But those will be a 2-day or at most 3-day kind of trip. Baby, I simply don’t want to be away from you this long…

Nevertheless, that is the choice I made. Just as Gen. Kuribayashi went to war for his country and his family, I made my choice to work here for God who guided me here, for myself, and for the people I love.

http://iwojimathemovie.warnerbros.com/lettersofiwojima/framework/framework.html