Profound nature of lunch at a chinese buffet

I had a very, very profound experience at lunch today, and oddly enough it happened at a chinese buffet called "China Buffet".  Since I know you're probably wondering, "How the hell does anyone have a profound experience at a chinese buffet?," I'll enlighten you.
A while back, while listening to NPR, I heard someone encouraging people to buy a soldier a meal whenever they saw them out at a restaraunt (sp?).  You know, kind of an inexpensive way to say thanks, even if you don't agree with the Bush administration (a quick read of some of my blog entry titles will give you a clear picture of my position on this current president).  I hadn't actually seen a soldier anywhere other than Wal Mart since I'd heard this.  That is, until lunch today.  I debated within my own mind, "Do I do this?  What if he gets mad?"  I went back and forth in my head all through my lunch.  Finally, my own timidity embarassed me, and as I was getting up to leave I went over to his table and said, "Sir, would you allow me the honor of paying for your lunch today?"
His head and faced turned red instantly, and I braced myself for some sort of admonishment.  After all, I had just asked a colonel in the United States Army if I could pay for his cheap chinese buffet lunch.  Instead, he simply, quietly said, "You don't have to do that."  I bent over, picked up his ticket, and came back with, "But I would like to.  I want to do something to say thank you for what you're doing for us."  He came back with, "Really.  I appreciate it, but you don't have to,"  and as he said that he stood up. 
At this point, everyone else in the building melted away, and I simply said, "It would be my honor.  You're doing something I can't and I just want to thank you for it."  I was not prepared for what happened next.  He reached out his hand, and as we were shaking hands he said, "You have no idea how much this means to me, to all of us."  His eyes were welling up.  "It means so much to us to know that people back here support us and...."  He was obviously fighting back tears, and now so was I.   "I'm sorry, it's just kind of hard to talk right now."  I understood, and told him so. 
He shook my hand again and asked my name.  I told him.  I didn't know what else to say, so like a dork I said, "God speed sir."  He looked kind of confused  (probably because I said something so dorky), and said, "You too."  I never asked his name, his unit, or anything like that.  I will never forget, however, that the name on his uniform was Youngblood.  I'm pretty sure he was a colonel.  He had a green beret on his table.
I still get emotional thinking about the whole thing.  How this man was so touched just because this fat dork bought his lunch for him at a $5.99 chinese buffet as a small token of appreciation for his sacrifice.  I gotta tell you, it felt really, really good inside.  I would strongly encourage anyone reading this to do the same thing.  Regardless of your politics.

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