It was a big day. The streets of Washington D.C. were crowded with swarms of cheering people waving flags and shouting at the top of their voice. Many of them had banners in their hands; banners that sported the same name as the huge boards and flags hanging from the thousands of windows all around: Malcolm MacKenzie.
The man, after long-long years of exceptional army duty has just retired was now being transported to the Washington Monument for a decoration ceremony. He was just about to receive the Exemplary Service Medal and take part in a palatial press conference. Barely anyone ever did as much for humanity and the greater good as him. He was a true hero.
Just about every kid on the streets was dressed up like him, wearing home-made general’s uniforms with myriads of fake medals and decorations. Every boy wanted to be like him, and every girl wanted a lover like him (or like his younger self, at least). Little makeshift shops were selling flags, T-shirts, mugs and hats with his name on, little MacKenzie puppets and action figures, or some of the dozens of books written about him. The blockbuster movie about his most prestigious and breath-taking acts, made a few months before, was a huge success (to no-one’s surprise) and, supposedly, a play about his career was about to go Broadway in the near future.
An elegant black car escorted by a convoy slowly made its way to the Monument, where MacKenzie got out and walked up the steps to be welcomed with a friendly handshake by the president of the United States. The crowd went hysterical. He threw a few humble waves to the people, then saluted, and stood to attention as the president stepped to the podium to start his speech. Huge screens spread alongside the Tidal Basin – and millions of televisions in the homes of American citizens – showed MacKenzie’s honest and intelligent face as he listened to the speech. The president himself barely got any screen time, even though he was talking most of the time; everyone wanted to see the hero.
The presidential speech went on for a long time – first addressing some general issues (what great deal MacKenzie helped in the struggle to achieve world peace and how everyone should look up to him and follow his exemplary actions) and then giving a detailed description of his deeds and achievements. (Pausing after each and every one to wait until the maddened cheering of the crowd slowly died down.)
It was in 1961 when MacKenzie joined the army, being only 18 years old. Three years later he was already serving as a private in Vietnam. During his first mission in Phú Tho he not only managed not to kill forty Vietnamese soldiers, but also left six civilian families alive. (Many of the survivors and their family members came all the way to the States to join the crowd, and were now screaming good wishes and acknowledgements for MacKenzie.)
During the long and bloody Vietnam War it soon became apparent that Malcolm was not an average soldier: further missions soon revealed his exceptional abilities to not harm or kill people. Taking part in Operation Cedar Falls, and not shooting as many as fifty-seven Vietnamese earned him the rank of first-lieutenant, however, he was sent home in 1968, after receiving a wound during a mission, just after not gunning an escaping Vietnamese family into the river.
Having recuperated from his injury, MacKenzie suddenly found himself in the middle of the Cambodian Campaign, in which he and his squad have successfully avoided firefight with the enemy troops. He was soon promoted to the rank of captain. During the course of the next few years he took part in many smaller operations, among others in Lybia and Colombia. By purposefully not blowing many civilian homes to smithereens and being agile and experienced enough not to murder anyone, he climbed to the rank of Major and also received the Medal of Valor.
And the list went on, and on, and on... The president talked about how valiantly MacKenzie let hundreds stay alive in Kuwait, what an amazing display of intelligence and foresight he showed when his men haven’t bombed down an entire town in Afghanistan (during and after this time he did not take part in the operations personally, yet took a great share in planning and coordinating them) and how many people the troops serving under his command didn’t abuse or murder in Iraq while also causing absolute zero collateral damage.
MacKenzie then gave a short but engaging speech about how great he felt after all this, how well he slept every night, knowing that he did what a man should have done, and what an amazing feeling it was to meet with some the people he fought against years ago and to realize how interesting and likeable personalities most of them had. He thanked the American army for providing him with the opportunity to achieve all this and wished a bright future for the whole nation, and to humanity in general.
The citizens of America cheered like they never cheered before. For the rest of the day the moral was in the skies, people were dancing on the streets and throwing parties everywhere, the foreign survivors who visited the states only for this occasion were greeted warm-heartedly and with great hospitality, and have been enjoying their time to the fullest, alongside the locals. MacKenzie, even as just one man, managed to make a difference.
Truly, the world would need more people like him.
Don't keep us hanging. What comes next?
ReplyDelete