Army Guys and Daniel

Madeleine had her first dental cleaning on Thursday, and so she, Amy and Daniel all came down to relatively-near-my-office for the visit, and we went to lunch afterward at my favorite Chinese buffet. The four of us were eating, when three "army guys," who turned out to be National Guardsmen, came in and sat at a nearby table, bedecked in full fatigue regalia. Their arrival transformed our visit. Daniel turned around in the booth, kneeling devoutly in their direction, and showed no interest in turning away. When Amy and the children went back up to the buffet to get dessert, I quietly went over to the "army guys'" table, and asked them if it would be alright if Daniel came to say hi to them, since he was interested in nothing else. They turned out to be really nice, and said it would be fine.

Just as I was about to go back to our table, Amy, Daniel and Madeleine were coming back from the buffet, and I took Daniel by the forearm and guided him to the spot where I was standing, in front of the Army Guy Table. As soon as Daniel figured out that we were actually engaging the military personnel, he froze: his chin dropped and became glued to his chin, at an angle, so that he was turned as far down and as far away from the center of the action. Meanwhile, he had the most wonderful combination of bluffing and beaming that I've ever seen, his face locked into a position of fearful ecstasy.

I prompted him, "Daniel, say 'hi'."

Sound emerged, now a rather solid soprano: "Hi-i...', and as the Guardsmen said hello to him, he added, "I wanna be a army guy when I grow up."

At that point, one of the three took a small Velcro tag from his chest, and put it onto Daniel's fleece jacket: Daniel was now officially a member of the "U.S. Army."

Daniel had "Lego-guys" at the table, but he wasn't very interested in them, and I ended up with them in my shirt pocket for the remainder of the work-day. He was so focused on his "U.S. Army" tag, nothing else seemed to matter.

At the table, he was reflecting, "I'd say Army is a little dangerous though... but Fake Army is okay." Finally, we found a bridge between the generations, the "synthesis" between a very young man's militarism and endless flair for adventure, his parents' pacifism and tremendous parental concern. I wholeheartedly agreed: "Fake Army" is absolutely marvelous, always welcome in our inner lives.

But even with my own "baggage" about foreign policy and everything that it touches in our present age,

this encounter with the "real" Army, however, superficial and Chinese-buffet-bound, was simply magical for five year old I know, and moving for us to watch as the first real "army guys" he ever saw showed a touch of very rare and spontaneous kindness.

(May 5, 2011)