Friday, April 23, 2004

A Better Man Even though I'm not pro-war, I am pro-soldier.  I don't think I was before I moved here to Europe to start working for the military, but after seeing first-hand the sacrifices the women and men of the armed forces, and their families, are making day after day, I can't help but want to support them.  And sure while I've made my own sacrifices moving 5,000 miles from my family and friends to be relatively alone in Germany, nothing I've done comes close to what the soldiers out there fighting have had to go through. Then there's the case of Pat Tillman.  Maybe you've heard his story already.  Maybe not.  The short version of it is Pat was an NFL player, making more than a million dollars a year playing football, but he gave it all up to join the Army shortly after 9/11 so he could serve alongside his brother.  If you haven't read some of the details of his story, stop right now and take a few minutes to click on the link above and read it.  You'll be amazed that a man making millions playing a game could walk away from it all to go fight a war in a country very far from home. The sad thing is Pat Tillman died this week in Afghanistan.  After already making a sacrifice that most of us would never dream of making -- ask yourself whether you would turn down a million dollars a year to go risk your life for next to no money or glory -- Pat made the ultimate sacrifice and gave up his life. Now some cynics on the net are already shouting that he's no hero and that he's no different than anyone else who dies in war.  I disagree because I can't think of anyone else in this day and age who was given the choice that Pat Tillman had between a nice, cushy lifestyle as a pro-athelete  and the violent, dangerous life of a soldier on the ground in a war zone, and who made the same decision Pat did.  I know I could never make that same choice, and that's why I say that Pat Tillman is a better man than me. Related links: Tillman Killed in Afghanistan A Cut Above:  an article written about Tillman back in 1997 7:07:23 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.