(“In my life I definitely want to say I’ve killed a person.”)

Ran into a kid today—he was a runner at the show where I was judging. Over the course of seeing him for eight hours a day for two days, there were moments to have snippets of conversation.

The kid is 16. Runs track, lifts weights. Kind of bashful and polite and listening to God Knows What (I should have asked) on his earbuds when he wasn’t being harangued by us.

At one point he announced that when he finishes high school he is going in the military–Army, not Marines “because the Marines after you complete Basic don’t let you choose your specialty” and he specifically wants to be in the infantry. Said he wants to experience all of life. My scribe, Elizabeth, asked him if that includes killing someone.

“Absolutely, yes,” he replied instantly. “In my life I definitely want to say I’ve killed a person.”

This leaves me wondering what conclusion to draw. About the educational system? About his family? About the culture of youth that grows up with video games that devalue human life? Ya got me but l’m pretty sure that patriotism or love of country don’t have to include elements of bloodlust whether it be intellectual or from the gut.

We speculated as to whether he had ever seen what a dead person looks like—an accident victim even or someone who’d succumbed to a heart attack. Probably not. So was this the bravado of a suburban kid who’ll outgrow it when the day to sign up approaches? Or maybe when the day to pull the trigger approaches?

What set me back was this kid didn’t look like the kind who twists the necks off kittens. He seemed so . . . normal. I wondered is it he or I who is living the sheltered life?