Mike Posner
The Soldier & the Boy (9-1-2016) [Live in Madison]
I heard the story of the soldier and the boy not too long ago
There was a soldier in Afghanistan,
and he's about 6 months into his campaign,
and he's really struggling; he's in and out of combat every day
He was drinking a lot, and he keeps hearing from these towns people that there's this boy
There's this magical boy, and he's, he's meditating under a tree, and most of the time he hears it, he says, "Ah, that's a bunch of bullshit."
But one night, he's especially missing home, and he's drinking, and he thinks, "I'm gonna go find this fucking boy under the tree."
So he climbs up the mountain, and sure enough, there's a little kid, maybe 10 or 11 years old, and he's sitting under the tree cross-legged with his eyes closed, and the soldier says, "Hello."
The boy doesn't move.
The solider starts to get mad.
He said, "You don't know. If you know so much, teach me about Heaven and Hell."
The boy opens his eyes slowly, and he says, "You want me to teach you about Heaven and Hell? Look at you. You smell bad. You're not a real soldier. You got dip in your mouth, you reek of alcohol, you're drunk. I can't teach you about Heaven and Hell." And the soldier's getting madder and madder.
The veins in his neck are starting to poke out.
He takes his revolver out, and points it at the boy's head, and the boy says, "That's Hell."
The soldier realizes this boy has just sacrificed his life.
He put it on the line to teach him.
He puts the gun down and starts to cry, and the boy says, "That's Heaven."
My name's Mike Posner, we're The Mike Posner Band, thank you, guys.