Pat Tillman used to be a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals. Entering his prime earning years (with a 3-year, $3.6 million contract offer on the table), he elected to quit football and join the U.S. Army. His brother also enlisted, and the two went through Rangers training.
An ESPN article about Tillman a year ago included the following quotes:
“A professional athlete’s career is self-indulgent almost by definition,” said Alan Klein, professor of sociology and anthropology at Northeastern University. “Risking your career and your life is not an easy decision. They’re content to wear a patch on the uniform for solidarity, but that’s the easy way out. Really, we’re all taking the easy way out.
“My parents were in [Nazi concentration camp] Auschwitz. All my life, I’ve heard about the acts of bravery and sacrifice. We would all like to think of ourselves as people who would do the right thing. But, deep down, how many of us would give up everything we have? Certainly, it’s not a lock.”
No, it�s not a lock. Pat Tillman got killed in an ambush/firefight in Afghanistan yesterday. I want to write something more about this, but I’m having a tough time parsing my feelings, between this and the debate about the photos of coffins of dead soldiers.