Meeting a young American

After our fish and chips lunch today we wandered into a cafe for coffee and while I was waiting for Kay to pick up the coffee order, I was greeted by a young man sitting by himself, who wanted to find out where we came from. He had a wholesome appearance, with short hair and wearing battle fatigue clothing that made me cautious initially but I soon realised that he just wanted to talk. He was very polite and began by telling me that he was an ex-Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and had been to Sydney and Brisbane for training (and also Singapore where he bought an iPad).

He quickly but calmly commented that the UMC (US Marine Corp) “should really stand for US misguided children”, taught them to be rough and aggressive, but did little to prepare them for employment outside apart from telling them that they should not behave the same aggressive way. He was given $80,000 worth of retraining support, and he had since worked various minor jobs such as in a supermarket and an oil drilling site in North Dakota.

What I detected was a lack of purpose and aimlessness in his life. While we expect someone of his age to be looking forward to the future, he was instead engaged in reflection on his past with seemingly little idea what he wanted to do next. 

It saddened me to meet a young person with such apparent despair and I fear he could like some engage in self harm or senseless violence against others. It is a side of America that we have read a lot about but it was still very moving when encountered face to face.

When it was time to return for us to our coach we shook his hand and wished him well. That was all we could do.