Brian Johnson thanks a veteran he met at a youth tournament, describing the brief conversation as a "micro moment of awesome." He draws on Kierkegaard's practice of daily walks to argue that simple, sincere thank-yous to military personnel create human connection across political divides.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic Plus One. Last weekend I took the big guy to the national championships, and this weekend I took both Emerson and Eleanor to another weekend tournament. It also happened to be my birthday, and there's literally nothing I'd rather do to celebrate my birthday than spend the weekend with my awesome kids while giving Mommy a weekend to celebrate the conclusion of her Rock Your Goddess Life program. So, lots of highlights we can mine. But I'm gonna focus on the opportunities to create micro moments of awesome while out in the wild. Again, when I'm in philosopher hermit mode, I don't get out much. So it's even more fun and important for me to soak up people. Fun historical fact, another kind of hermit philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, used to go on daily walks through Copenhagen and made sure he interacted with his community. He called it— Commune. People baths. So here's one of my all-time favorite ways to create a micro moment of awesome. If I see someone wearing a military hat, I thank them for their service. Super simple, super powerful. Now, this weekend I saw an older gentleman wearing an Airborne Cavalry hat. Now, I was sitting down in a chair waiting for Eleanor to finish her game as he was walking by. We made eye contact as he was passing, and I said, thank you for your service. He said, thank you, and you can tell he was pleasantly surprised that I said something. I stood up so I could show him more respect and shake his hand. I said, seriously, thank you, as I extended my hand. We shook hands. I asked him, where'd you serve? And he laughed and said, well, where didn't I serve? Then he mentioned the various places around the world in which he served. We chatted for another couple minutes about what brought him to the tournament. His wife is a tournament director. Then I thanked him again for keeping my family safe. It was a very small thing to do that created a very special moment for both of us. I had the opportunity to humbly, earnestly thank a man who proudly served our country, and he had the opportunity to receive that earnest appreciation. Independent of your politics, in a world in which there's so much polarization these days, I think creating moments like this is even more important. In fact, I'd say that creating moments like this with active and retired military folks is even more important if you don't feel aligned with the current political climate. There are few more powerful ways to transcend our differences than to connect with a human being one-on-one. And that's today's Plus One. The next time you have the chance, see if you can thank someone for their service.
