Uncultured man
sees in conscience, in reason,
so far as he recognizes it as his own
no universal objective power;

therefore he must separate from himself
that which gives him moral laws,
and place it in opposition to himself,
as a distinct personal being.

Belief in revelation
is a childlike belief,
and is only respectable as long as
it is childlike.

— excerpt, The False or Theological Essence of Religion
by Ludwig Feuerbach

I viewed a 9-11 retrospective piece on PBS.  The program featured interviews with the children, now young adults, of a parent who were taken in the mass death event on September 11th 2001.  One of the interviewees was a young male adult from a family with a military background.  I believe that the dad he lost was a firefighter.  He was a well spoken, albeit somewhat “lost” individual.  To be “lost” when in early adulthood is not unusual.  After all the boundary between adolescence and adult responsibility, the quest for one’s place in society, is a formidable passage.  The concluding images of the interview portrayed him in a backyard with his Bible-study mentor, another somewhat older male.  The interviewee expressed his persisting confusion, the struggle to make sense of the events of the past.  By extension how would the meaning of his life add up in the future?  The interviewee hastened to point out these matters were in “God’s hands.”  God knows things that we humans do not.  His facial expression conveyed intractable innocence of indefatigable unknowing.

I believe that he stated that he intended to join the military.