Don't be cruel

Last night Matt and I watched the movie "Seven Pounds" and I have not been able to get it out of my head all day. (WARNING: If you think you might ever watch this movie, be very careful reading reviews, summaries, etc. The whole point of the movie is to figure out what the main character is doing, and why, and the full story isn't revealed until the very end.)

A scene in the first 10 minutes left me completely undone -- the main character (Will Smith) is utterly, needlessly cruel (verbally) to a blind customer-service rep (Woody Harrelson), and the blind guy, while dumbfounded and obviously hurt, refuses to lash back in anger.

It was a heartbreaking exchange. Matt assured me that the main character was a good guy and must have had a good reason for his actions, and he was right, but for the rest of the night I started crying again every time I thought about the blind guy saying, in bewilderment, "I'm trying to help you, sir."

Even though in the movie there was a purpose for the meanness, it made me think about how often in real life people are cruel for no good reason, or even unintentionally. I like to think of myself as a generally nice and compassionate person (who doesn't?) but I so often am not. Which, combined with pregnancy hormones, probably explains why that scene hit me so hard.

On a lighter note, happy Cinco de Mayo! We're celebrating with a small par-tay at Stephen's house tonight, and I am most excited that Amanda is coming with Brianna! Yaaay! (Stephen T. has to work.)

And on yet another entirely different subject, did anyone at SpringFest the other week happen to see the guy walking around carrying a sign about boycotting Pizza Hut? All I could glimpse was something about "I got fired because I blew the whistle on Pizza Hut ..." but he was gone before I could read the details. I would love to know the scoop. (Maybe he exposed Pizza Hut for refusing to acknowledge friendly suggestion letters from slightly dissatisfied customers?)