Remembering a real sacrifice

I hope Eli Manning is thinking about Pat Tillman.

I hope Kellen Winslow II is thinking about Pat Tillman.

I hope in cities across the country, where they have parties and events scheduled today for the NFL Draft, they will be thinking about Pat Tillman. I hope instead of football orgies, such as the one scheduled for today at FedEx Field, they become memorials instead.

I will be thinking about Pat Tillman today, when dozens of young men learn where they will be playing football in the NFL and most likely getting an idea of how many millions of dollars they will be earning.

I will be thinking about how Pat Tillman walked away from millions of dollars in the NFL playing safety for the Phoenix Cardinals to instead serve his country after September 11 by joining the Army and training to be in the Rangers special forces unit.

I will be thinking about how Pat Tillman died Thursday in a firefight with anti-coalition militia forces in Afghanistan, fighting for his country and to protect all of us from terrorism.

I hope I will think about Pat Tillman for a very long time, never forgetting the commitment he made for all of us. I hope that every time I watch an NFL game, I remember Pat Tillman. I want to hang on to the perspective he gave us. I never want to forget the lesson of sacrifice he taught all of us.

I hope that when things get a little rough for Kellen Winslow II in the NFL — maybe even in a Washington Redskins uniform — he doesn’t repeat his infamous declaration after a University of Miami game against Tennessee last year: “It’s war, they’re out there to kill you, so I’m out there to kill them. … I’m a [expletive] soldier.”

Winslow issued an official “apology” through the university, as if anyone actually believes these were his words: “After speaking with the press, I immediately regretted my comments and felt embarrassed for my family, my team, the University of Miami, our fans, alumni and myself. … As for my reference to being a soldier in a war, I meant no disrespect to the men and women who have served, or are currently serving, in the armed forces. I cannot begin to imagine the magnitude of war or its consequences.”

You can start today, Kellen, and every time you step on the football field for the privilege of earning millions of dollars to play a game, by saying Pat Tillman’s name quietly to yourself. Just do him the service of that — a moment to reflect on what it really means to be a soldier.

I hope if quarterback Eli Manning has to suffer the indignity of being forced to play football in a place that wasn’t his first choice and make millions of dollars in the process, he is too busy thinking about Pat Tillman and how he chose to be on a battlefield instead of a football field. “He knew what was important to him, and he made his decision and stood by it,” Manning told reporters.

I hope that Pat Tillman taught Eli Manning what is important.

And I hope we all stop weeping about the beating his father Archie took when he played quarterback in the league and how he is just trying to protect his son, instead of trying to teach his son how fortunate he is. It was unfortunate that Archie Manning had to play for the New Orleans Saints. It wasn’t a tragedy. I hope today we all know the difference.

I know that soldiers have been dying every day in Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of soldiers, and that Pat Tillman’s death is no more or less tragic than any other. Pat Tillman recognized that. He knew his commitment was no greater than those of his fellow soldiers, so he refused to grant any interviews about his decision. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican who knows a little bit about courage and commitment, noted Tillman’s refusal to call attention to himself. “He viewed his decision as no more patriotic than that of his less fortunate, less renowned countrymen who loved our country enough to volunteer to defend her in a time of peril,” said McCain, who spent several years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

I hope that when we think of Pat Tillman, we think of all the others who have died along with him and those who are in danger — not just when we are reading the war stories in the newspapers or watching on television. I hope we think of them in those moments that we take for granted — a football game, a family picnic — and those we treasure, perhaps a high school graduation.

It turns out that Pat Tillman didn’t have to say anything about his stunning decision to leave the NFL and serve his country. Now we know why.