When I recently learned of Pat Tillman's death in combat I thought of the words from Shakespeare's King Henry the V in which King Henry responds to Westmoreland's concern that the French have more soldiers on the field than the English,
"The fewer men, the greater share of honour."
But King Henry goes on to explain,
"By Jove, I am not covetous for gold;
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires;
But if it be a sin to covet honour;
Than I am the most offending soul alive."
Pat Tillman was a man who coveted honor; a man with a keen sense of right and wrong who directed his life to things in which he passionately believed. We all know that he turned down a $3.6 million dollar contract to play defensive back for the Cardinals. But do we know he graduated from Arizona State University summa cum laude? Here is a man who could have picked any future, any career. With his good looks and strong body he could have directed his life to any pleasure, carnal or otherwise. He chose honor.
When I think of Pat Tillman I cannot help but think of the many privileged children in this country, privileged in family, in schools, in contacts, in money who direct their lives to covet even more gold. To them Pat Tillman and those like him are foolish idealists. To them the thought of relinquishing gold for honor is downright stupid. They are supported in this by their families who have struggled to make sure their children attend, not Arizona State or some other "directional school", but Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, Michigan (University not State) Cornell. The thought of their children seeking "honor" after all that work and investment would be addressed with great disappointment. But, to seek honor by joining the armed forces, that is considered something which reflects a mental instability, irrational, something that has to be cured with no less than a psychiatric palliative, a failure in values, a distinct rejection of everything in which they believe. The very thought that their child would, after all the right education, the right grooming, the right everything, join the armed forces to defend America, is considered a distinct failure in their responsibility as parents. And this in today's world, especially during America's confrontation with terrorism, is what makes them and their children irrelevant.
Prior to the Vietnam War it was seen as a duty by the elite and privileged families of America to send their children to West Point, Annapolis, ROTC, the Airforce Academy. They believed, and correctly, that they owed something back for the blessings they received from being Americans. They imbued their children with this belief and their children absorbed this and committed themselves to this value. They didn't necessarily make the military their career but they served and served with honor.
Today America relies for its defense not upon its elite and privileged families but rather upon its middle and less affluent classes. Today's young officers come from the state universities which have thrived and grown over the last 50 years throughout America. The tuition at these schools are a third of what the elite schools charge. The big and prestigious jobs don't go to these children of the heartland. But we look to them to man the barricades for our defense. You can see them in the evening on TV when Fox News or CNN reporters jam a microphone toward there eager faces, black, white, Hispanic and out pours a surprisingly articulate explanation of whatever is happening behind them on the field of battle. We know who they are. They are the children of the gardener, the bus driver, the police officer, the secretary, the Fed Ex guy or girl, the person behind the counter, the computer technician. We meet them everyday as we go about our business. These are not the children of the lawyers at the big firms, or the investment bankers, the marketing v.p.'s, the executives at some big TV network station.
The "old money" and newly affluent families have turned their backs to America. They have received the rewards of our freedom but reject the responsibility that comes with it. I am reminded of another time in our history when the country was fighting for its life. Lincoln allowed the privileged families to buy their children out of the Civil War for a mere $300. Today, when our freedom, and our very existence is challenged the elite and privileged families don't even have to do that. Among themselves they denigrate these soldiers as ones who don't know how to get themselves out of the rain. While their children are moving up the affluent ladder of success other children are fighting and dying.
But when its over these children will be coming back. Victory will be sweet in their mouths but a deep sadness will be in their hearts for those who did not return. That taste of victory and hollow sadness will be shared by all those American families whose children went abroad to defend us. And what of those who stayed behind and made themselves still richer? Again my mind goes to King Henry's words,
"And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurst they were not here;
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon [this] day."
In other words, of those who stayed behind and made themselves still richer? Irrelevant.
God bless you Pat Tillman and God bless all the other Pat Tillmans who fought for us upon this day.
The Country Lawyer
Pat Tillman was a true hero in this battle and you have articulated my feelings. I would add that even a very liberal, anti-war friend had to admit that this was a man with character that he lacked.
Unfortunately there were many who said that he was an idiot for doing what he did.
The NY Times to its continuing shame put his story on the front page contrasting it with another "?hero?", a woman who became pregnant while in service and was facing difficulties after discharge.
Posted by: norbert jay | January 31, 2005 at 02:52 PM