Yesterday, Cynthia e-mailed me this story about her brother:
My brother got back from Iraq last week after almost 4 months, and had an interesting experience at the airport in Charlotte. He had flown from Baghdad to Germany, then Germany to Charlotte, and had been up for about 36 hours. When he went to the counter to check his duffel bag on to Nashville, the woman at the counter told him that his bag was 5 pounds overweight and he would have to repack it. He asked if she had any boxes, and she told him he would have to go to another part of the airport to get that type of assistance. So, M. opened the bag and took out his flack jacket (he took all of his own body armor with him) and asked her if it was within the weight restrictions. She said she thought it inappropriate that he was going to wear such an item in the airport, but that, yes, the bag was now within the weight limit. He said to her, “Madam, I have been serving my country for 4 months under fire every day, and this jacket has not been off my body. If you can’t let 5 pounds slide, then I wear the jacket”. So, he did just that – and for the next several hours, while he waited for his connection, he was approached time and again by people, who shook his hand, thanked him for what he was doing, bought him lunch and made him feel like a king.
Tamar, glad your back safely! Hope all went well.
This is a fabulous story! It's truly amazing that people out there in the everyday world can't pull that plug from the wall and stop acting like computers. I sure would like to shake his hand! It's nice to know that there some out there who could appreciate his contribution to this country.
Posted by: dan ramirez | March 08, 2005 at 11:34 AM
Thanks, Dan. Yes I know. I thought it was interesting too. Some people stick to rules and policies as if...yes ... they were acting like robots!
Posted by: Tamar | March 08, 2005 at 07:03 PM