Ideals, Oaths, Causes, and Man ~ Master Kan (Kung Fu season 2, Episode 18 "Crossties")

 

MASTER KAN: 

You are speaking of Disciple Han?

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

Yes, master.

MASTER KAN: 

And he no longer feels bound by his oath.

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

Because of the contest yesterday between us in which he was defeated.

MASTER KAN: 

And do you feel you have lost something?

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

I do.

MASTER KAN: 

What will you do now with your oath?

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

Is not an oath eternal?

MASTER KAN: 

But how can you control such a thing as a friendship…which requires the assent of two persons? It is well to consider deeply before binding yourself to an ideal…a cause, a man. For what is an oath worth that binds a man…who makes it to an unachievable task?

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

He is still angry. It troubles me. I do not know how to answer his hatred.

MASTER KAN: 

How else but with love? One cannot always keep a friend…when that friend believes that one has wronged him.

KWAI CHANG CAINE: 

But I have not wronged him. He is mistaken.

MASTER KAN: 

Each man has the right to choose his enemies and his friends. He may choose unwisely…but the decision is his alone to make. Then he must live with the consequences…and so must his enemies and his friends.

thanks to:

https://kungfu1953.wordpress.com/television-episodes-main/season-2-1973-74/18-crossties/