This morning I was in a hurry to make it to my Sunday morning walk and hadn’t had time to make breakfast. So, on the way home from getting coffee for my wife and daughter, I stopped at McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin. When I went to pay, the woman behind the counter said, “You know, people who serve the military can get a discount?”

“Why did you think of that?” I asked.

“Because when you pulled out your wallet, I saw your military ID.”

I carry a US Navy civilian ID.

“Thanks,” I said, “how much is the discount?

It was a whopping 25%. I accepted.

“We give a discount because people in the military and who work for the military are serving their country,” she said.

For my complete thoughts on this, see my “Are You Being Served?”, published at antiwar.com.

But I didn’t want to barrage her with my thoughts on this. So I said, “You know, there’s someone here who clearly is serving her country?”

“Who is that?”, she asked.

“You,” I said. “Not only are you serving other customers and me, but also we show that it’s service by the fact that we’re willing to pay for it.”

“I guess that’s true,” she said.

I think I gave her something to think about. When I came home and told my wife, she said, “Trying to change people’s minds, one person at a time.”