Lost Souls

I talked to a soldier today out at the smoking area. A young soldier just starting out in the MOS I started my active duty career in. I asked him why he joined. He shrugged, "I don't know. I just didn't have anything else to do since I wasn't going to college."

Sounds really similar to the reasonings of a young high school graduate a decade and a half ago. The military serves as a haven for all kinds of lost souls, each looking for fulfillment in a closed society that could not be found in the regular open society. Only the rules really aren't that different and the same social situations and their problems still exist.

Still, whatever we were looking for, or attempting to fulfill, we have all found ourselves here.

The Matrix Reloaded discusses the issues of choice, control, purpose, and how those three are related. Often, under the pretext of choice, we have given up control in the pursuit of purpose. That is exactly how people find themselves in the Army. As The Oracle told Neo, we often ponder what our purpose is long after we've already made the choice as to what our purpose will be; when the real question is, trying to understand why we've made the choice at all.

Previous Comments:

Thanks for this very probing insight, my brother!! It's good to be able to connect with you this way.

Love, Jim
Posted by the shovel on November 18, 2003 at 08:04:26 PM


Good to "hear" your "voice"...
Posted by RickinVa on November 18, 2003 at 08:19:41 PM


This is so good, Bill!

Prayers and hugs to you from all your pals!
Posted by Mickey on November 18, 2003 at 08:58:30 PM