The Unit

Awhile back, I was introduced to the military show, The Unit, based on the highly secretive and trained Delta Force. My buddy who is in that line of employment showed me the first episode and I have really enjoyed watching the episodes as the different stories unfold.

Just the other day I watched one that for some reason struck a chord inside of me. Jonas, played by Dennis Haysbert, is the lead role in the show, and the team leader. His wife Molly and him have one daughter who shows up in this particular episode in a rude fashion, and the parents are trying to deal with her. She breaks into the house, "because she forgot her key" and attempts to steal her birth certificate so she can drop out of college and enlist in the Army.

Where I found it interesting is how Molly and Jonas handle the situation. Their daughter is really "lippy," and should have been appropriately scolded - which Molly did. It was the typical parent - child dispute where the kid thinks they know something and the parents know better - so the feud begins. Molly takes the approach of - "I brought you into this world and I will take you out before you speak to me like that again." Jonas has a different tactic, which Molly sarcastically and critically called "daddying her up."

Jonas takes his daughter shooting. In between rounds of fire, the two had a conversation about joining the military. The daughter made the statement, "what do you fear?" Jonas replied, "I fear no man," then he looked at his daughter and smiled, "only one woman." Referring to his wife Molly who is very much a competent woman. She laughs, and Jonas follows up by saying, "Courage is moving towards danger when there is a means of escape." He tells her if she finishes college and still wants to go into the military, he'll give her, her first salute. She says, "I'll try." Jonas promptly retorts, "I'll try means I'll fail. If you don't know that, you have no business being in the military." And like all good shows, that last less than an hour, the daughter repents of her ways, and decides to go back to college and finish. It was all happy.

I realize I just described something really not that important, but those three lines from Jonas caught my attention. Sure the one about "fearing" his wife was comical, but the other two about courage and trying really hit me. Why they hit me, I don't know. But it was enough for me to pause, rewind it and watch the scene unfold again. I even took the time to write about it here. Maybe I have something to learn. Maybe it is the fact I have a pregnant wife and someday I'll handle a similar situation. I just don't know.