04-26-2004, 12:15 PM
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[headline]
Thank you, Pat Tillman
Former football pro understood patriotism
[/headline]
09:22 PM CDT on Friday, April 23, 2004
Let us now praise Pat Tillman, an American patriot who died far away from home, fighting for his country.
Each day brings news of honorable men and women of the U.S. armed services who gave their lives in Middle East combat. But Mr. Tillman’s death in an Afghanistan firefight is marked by particular nobility, an uncommon courage and generosity of spirit before which we can only stand with heads bowed, in humility and awe. Pat Tillman was rich, famous and newly married when he decided, in the summer of 2002, after returning from his honeymoon, to leave the gridiron for the battlefield. The Arizona Cardinals safety relinquished a $3.6 million NFL contract to join the Army Rangers, making the princely salary of $18,000 a year.
Also Online
Reaction:
• Tim Cowlishaw: Tillman's death provides jolt of reality
• NFL family mourns Tillman
• Monk: A hero for my generation
• Hennings: Tillman a 'role model for American youth'
• Editorial: Thank you, Pat Tillman
• DeOre cartoon
• Reader comments on Pat Tillman
• White House statement, what others are saying
Online Only:
• Photos
(From azfamily.com)
• Sign our online guest book
Video:
• An inspiration to many
Tillman talks of patriotism
• Pat Tillman biography
(From azfamily.com)
Nobody knows exactly why he and his brother Kevin, a minor-league baseball prospect, made this choice together. The Tillman brothers wouldn’t talk publicly about their decision, because they didn’t want to be seen as self-aggrandizing. It was said that Pat had been deeply affected by the Sept. 11 attacks and thought he had a higher calling in life than to make millions chasing a ball up and down the grass on Sunday afternoons. As columnist Peggy Noonan observed at the time, "Maybe he was thinking Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
We live in a cynical, narcissistic age, so it wasn’t surprising that not everyone saw it that way. Former teammate Simeon Rice, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, suggested at the time to a reporter that Pat Tillman left pro football because he wasn’t a very good player, or maybe was trying to live out a Rambo fantasy. Mr. Rice, in his poverty of spirit, could not imagine that anyone would give up the pampered life of a professional athlete to go live in a foreign foxhole and get shot at by fanatics, all for the sake of defending the homeland. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Pat Tillman’s laid up his treasure in loyalty and selfless service to his nation, for which he gave, in Lincoln’s immortal phrase, “the last full measure of … devotion.” Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a war hero of Vietnam, said yesterday that the young man’s death will “seem a heavy blow to the nation’s morale.” To the contrary, we believe that Pat Tillman’s sacrifice will inspire his fellow Americans. His life and his death bear witness to the truth that there are some ideals worth dying for, and therefore some ideals worth living for.
Pat Tillman, who walked off the football field and died on the field of honor, was a great American and a great man. We are, every one of us, forever in his debt.
[headline]
Thank you, Pat Tillman
Former football pro understood patriotism
[/headline]
09:22 PM CDT on Friday, April 23, 2004
Let us now praise Pat Tillman, an American patriot who died far away from home, fighting for his country.
Each day brings news of honorable men and women of the U.S. armed services who gave their lives in Middle East combat. But Mr. Tillman’s death in an Afghanistan firefight is marked by particular nobility, an uncommon courage and generosity of spirit before which we can only stand with heads bowed, in humility and awe. Pat Tillman was rich, famous and newly married when he decided, in the summer of 2002, after returning from his honeymoon, to leave the gridiron for the battlefield. The Arizona Cardinals safety relinquished a $3.6 million NFL contract to join the Army Rangers, making the princely salary of $18,000 a year.
Also Online
Reaction:
• Tim Cowlishaw: Tillman's death provides jolt of reality
• NFL family mourns Tillman
• Monk: A hero for my generation
• Hennings: Tillman a 'role model for American youth'
• Editorial: Thank you, Pat Tillman
• DeOre cartoon
• Reader comments on Pat Tillman
• White House statement, what others are saying
Online Only:
• Photos
(From azfamily.com)
• Sign our online guest book
Video:
• An inspiration to many
Tillman talks of patriotism
• Pat Tillman biography
(From azfamily.com)
Nobody knows exactly why he and his brother Kevin, a minor-league baseball prospect, made this choice together. The Tillman brothers wouldn’t talk publicly about their decision, because they didn’t want to be seen as self-aggrandizing. It was said that Pat had been deeply affected by the Sept. 11 attacks and thought he had a higher calling in life than to make millions chasing a ball up and down the grass on Sunday afternoons. As columnist Peggy Noonan observed at the time, "Maybe he was thinking Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
We live in a cynical, narcissistic age, so it wasn’t surprising that not everyone saw it that way. Former teammate Simeon Rice, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, suggested at the time to a reporter that Pat Tillman left pro football because he wasn’t a very good player, or maybe was trying to live out a Rambo fantasy. Mr. Rice, in his poverty of spirit, could not imagine that anyone would give up the pampered life of a professional athlete to go live in a foreign foxhole and get shot at by fanatics, all for the sake of defending the homeland. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Pat Tillman’s laid up his treasure in loyalty and selfless service to his nation, for which he gave, in Lincoln’s immortal phrase, “the last full measure of … devotion.” Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a war hero of Vietnam, said yesterday that the young man’s death will “seem a heavy blow to the nation’s morale.” To the contrary, we believe that Pat Tillman’s sacrifice will inspire his fellow Americans. His life and his death bear witness to the truth that there are some ideals worth dying for, and therefore some ideals worth living for.
Pat Tillman, who walked off the football field and died on the field of honor, was a great American and a great man. We are, every one of us, forever in his debt.