A conversation with a soldier...

So I'm on the subway around noon today. It's pretty empty and the few riders are minding their own business.

I look up from my laptop for a minute as another passenger moves towards my area. He looks at me. We nod to each other.

He turns to another passenger and starts talking. The guy looks at him quizzically.

"I've been on the train for a long time. Just looking for a conversation," he says. The other passenger doesn't say anything.

"What kind of conversation do you want?" I ask.

"I don't care...anything," he says.

"I'm game," I respond.

Turns out, he just got back from Iraq after 18 months in the Army. We had a really good conversation about his perceptions (he thinks the media isn't doing the US justice in terms of all of the good we're doing. He thinks we were misled re: WMD's, but has seen the torture prison and thinks that we're doing the right thing.) I thanked him for his service.