Death and Pat Tillman (Spoilers for AtS5.15 -AHiTW)

[dlgood]

Why is Fred dead? Proximate cause - because Gunn signed papers that allowed Knox to sneak the coffin through. Bigger picture - because she was there. To the extent that it was her choice ('mindwipe') Fred chose to be in LA, chose to be in that fight, and could have gone elsewhere. She didn't And she's become a casualty of her lifestyle. It is sad. It sucks. It's also how life works sometimes.

As illustrated by the death of former Arizona Cardinals safety, Pat Tillman. A few years ago, Tillman gave up his NFL career (passing on a $3.6 million contract) and enlisted in the US military. At Arizona State, he was both a star athlete and an honor student, and he felt that it was more worthwhile to serve his country than play football, particularly after September 11. Tillman became an Army Ranger, and insisted on recieving no special media attention or treatment for his decision.

Today he was found dead in Afghanistan. I don't know the specific cause of death. Or who was to blame. Do we blame his CO or the pentagon for the strategies. For sending him to war. Perhaps. Maybe there was faulty equipment.

But Tillman made a choice, and he chose to be a soldier. Even though he knew the risks, and even though he could have been somewere else. And he did so, because he felt that joining in the fight was worthwhile to him. It satisfied his preference. And he died following through on that decision. And Fred died following through on hers.

It's sad. It's tragic. The Tillman family grieves. Those who love Fred grieve. But it's life.

Comments

Re: You are making some huge leaps there

[bhadrasvapna.livejournal.com]

Does this mean we're done here? Because I pretty much have to reject your definition out of hand.

If all you want to do is look at the show from your limited perspective using your definitions, then I would say that we are finished. If you believe that owning a satelite dish is a pursuit more worthy than individuation, I don't see how any discussion can be held.

Re: You are making some huge leaps there

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

If you believe that owning a satelite dish is a pursuit more worthy than individuation

Because owning that metaphorical satellite dish is pursing my individuation. So is contemplating philosophy. So is giving up my free time to volunteer on my City Traffic Planning Board, to work voter registration drives, to tutor on the weekends. I can fulfill my individuation by doing things solely for myself. And I can fulfill my individuation by sacrificing some of that same individuation to a community.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrow of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it; for this sentiment, like all the other original passions of human nature, is by no means confined to the virtuous and humane, though they perhaps may feel it with the most exquisite sensibility. The greatest ruffian, the most hardened violator of the laws of society, is not altogether without it.
---Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759

I suppose it's the difference between being fundamentally community focused as opposed to being self-focused as an individual. Essentially, I don't believe that I'm an island. I believe that I am a part of something that is at once, both greater than myself, but also composed of myself. It's Economics 101. It's human nature.