There’s that famous scene in the iconic American film Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams and Matt Damon have that “Tasters Choice moment” on the bench in the Boston park and Williams’ character “Sean” details an epiphany he had after much deliberation about “Will” in the wee hours of a New England morning. He calls him “just a kid” and says he hasn’t the faintest idea of what he’s talking about — then follows it up with a powerful collection of words that serve as unequivocal support for his damning assertion:

So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you’d probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, “once more unto the breach dear friends.” But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell …

So yeah, you can press play and see what it’s like through the lens of a camera strapped on a United States Army soldier’s helmet as he jumps from a plane in the sky — and it’s an incredible sight — but you won’t really know what it’s like to land in that Nijmegen Drop Zone at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Unless you’ve done it …

Next time you look up and you’re outside on American soil, salute the sky, and recognize the men and women who have the guts to do this.