Sunday was the eighth anniversary of the death of Pat Tillman, a former NFL defensive back who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. The following is re-published from a post about Tillman in Nov. 2009.
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“Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness. … Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind….” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Let’s start with this: This essay isn’t intended to have any real political meaning.
We live in interesting times, and it seems everything is political these days. Everything is argued, and every argument is molded into two differing viewpoints. And only two. Every argument is black and white. And there is often little room for shades of gray.
Left vs. Right. Blue vs. Red. Yes vs. No. The NFL vs. Rush, and so on.
To often, Complexity is ignored. OK, we had to put that out there. Unfortunately. And it’s unfortunate because this post really isn’t about politics.
This is a post about Pat Tillman.
See, I’ve been thinking about Pat Tillman a lot lately. Thinking about his life. Thinking about his death. Thinking about football and Emerson and Afghanistan.
This will all make sense in minute. Probably.
The Brew House 