I picked up a movie the other day for $1.96 that looked interesting. It was titled Self/less, was rated PG-13, and sounded decent. If you have any intention of watching this movie, I am going to give some things away. You were warned. And no, this is not a movie review, it is a blog post.
The movie is about an elderly man named Ben Kingsley who is dying of cancer. He is wealthy and has accomplished a lot in life, but was a terrible father to his daughter and has turned out to be a self-centered lonely old man. He discovers something new a doctor has come up with that is expensive called "shedding". One can "shed" their old body and have their consciousness put into a younger healthy body that has been grown in a lab. His death is faked, he goes into the operation, and wakes up in a much younger body played by a much younger and good looking Ryan Reynolds. The trick to staying in this new and younger body is to take some red pills regularly, to make the "transplant" work.
Ben forgets to take the pills a few times and starts having flashbacks that involve a young Hispanic woman and a little girl he feels he is supposed to help. The doctor claims they are hallucinations, but Ben soon realizes the truth: His new body was not grown in a lab. It is the body of a young Marine named Mark - great name for a good looking guy, huh? ;) - Mark gave his life to be used for this program so money would be given to get his sick little girl the help she needs. Ben/Mark ends up on the run with the mother and little girl as the doctor and his group does their best to kill all three to keep the truth quiet.
And now to the point of the whole post, and the biggest spoiler: The reason for the pills. If Ben stops taking them, Ben will fade away and Mark will take back over the living body along with his consciousness and memories. At the climax of the movie, Ben does the most unselfish thing of his life.... and the last thing he will do. He stops taking the pills and leaves a video message explaining it all to Mark when Mark's consciousness and memories take back over the body he gave to save his daughter.
It was just a movie, but it impacted me....a mark of a great movie.....no pun intended. Two very unselfish acts by two very different men: Mark, the young marine father who gave his life to save his daughter's life. Ben, the older wealthy man who let himself go so that young father could have his life and family back.
I like the movie title. If you look at it, it is not just the word "selfless". There is a backslash in between the letters - "self/less". There is nothing in the movie that spells it out plainly, but the idea is there that to be selfless, there needs to be less of self.
We live in selfish times. Sadly that has invaded our churches and Christianity. Everything is about us. We decide what we believe and pretty much set up God in our own image. We like to knock those who say they can be gay and Christian - that one can have a sexual relationship with the same sex and be a Christian, yet how many of us go through the Bible and pick and choose what verses mean and what parts apply to us. "It is a shame for a man to have long hair...... - that was just in Paul's day". "If you are divorced and remarry, or you marry a divorced person you commit adultery - if you are the innocent party, it is OK....." and on and on.
We want to be first in everything. We want people to violate their conscience in politics because we are more concerned about our comforts and freedoms then how we are making that person feel.
We spend our money on what we want. It is all about what we want, yet we claim to serve God and want to be like Jesus, the most selfless person that ever walked this earth. How does our selflessness compare to that of Jesus? I fear most of us would be sadly lacking compared to Him.
Yet shouldn't Christians be the most selfless people on the face of the earth?
Would we give our lives to save a loved one? I have read stories of women who refused medical treatment that would harm their unborn baby, and died after giving birth to that baby. Would we give our lives to save someone we don't know? Would we pass up on that close parking place so someone else could park there, or leave someone in front of us in the checkout line? Would we give up our time to listen to someone?
I did a selfless act today. I was shopping at Hobby Lobby and they had their Christmas decorations half off. I found the single decorations they have hung by theme and picked out a cool tin airplane I liked, and another I liked. I then had the great idea to buy all of my nieces and nephews an ornament. (Hope they are not reading this). I found one quickly for my youngest niece, and then my 3 nephews - fishing related, that was easy. Then I found one for my middle niece, and was struggling to find one for my oldest niece. I saw nothing. I then glanced at the 7 ornaments in my hand. Along with the 5 for my nieces and nephews were the 2 I had picked for myself - the plane and the other one. It was one that fit my oldest niece, but there were no more of it. I then realized what I needed to do. The plane would go on my tree, but the other one I wanted would go to my oldest niece. I didn't need it, and it was one she would like.
Now in the grand scheme of things, that was not that big. I don't feel sad or that I gave up anything major..... but I did put my niece above me and did a selfless act. Now if we all just did selfless acts daily as a part of our lives, how much different we and our world would be.
Just how selfless are we?
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