Hero

I respect former Cardinal Pat Tillman's decision to join the Rangers after 9/11. He put his money where his mouth was, as it were. Not knowing anything really about his service or how he died in Afghanistan last week, I would still agree that he was a heroic figure.

Yet I'm troubled by all this hero talk. Sports Illustrated's Peter King said yesterday, "I think 100 years from now, children in schools across the country will be reading about a hero named Pat Tillman." I'm sorry, but that seems more than a bit over the top.

Does walking away from a $3.6M contract to join the military make him more of a hero than someone who enlisted to escape poverty, someone who essentially had fewer options than Tillman? And with all the GOP attempts to denigrate John Kerry, who volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was awarded 3 Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and Silver Star, what does the word "hero" really mean?

ntodd  ¶ 8:40 AM