The life of heroes

By John Savage, Staff Writer

Sometimes we protect our heroes and other times they protect us. But recently we have come to find out we let down one of our heroes, to the dishonor of his friends, family, fans and fellow service members.

I’m talking about the speedy safety who used to hit like Ronnie Lott. He’s the guy who was the second leading tackler with the Arizona State Sun Devils football team in 1997, with 43 tackles while holding a 3.83 grade point average while majoring in marketing. He also led the Sun Devils to the 1996 Rose Bowl and was the Pacific 10 defensive player of the year.

As a player in the National Football League, he’s the guy you wanted on your team. While some other players bounced around the league like a multicolored beach ball on a summer day, he decided not to leave one of the worst teams in NFL history although other teams were pursuing him like the St. Louis Rams who offered him, at one time, a five-year, $9 million contract.

For this hero, not saving the day was not an option, even if it meant risking his life — on and off the football field.

That wasn’t how Arizona safety Pat Tillman did things. His devotion could be seen no matter what job he was performing. Tillman was a real hero. When things got bad, he didn’t run for cover; he ran into danger.

That’s why it’s so disturbing for his name to be tarnished — he was a genuine hero.

These days, heroes are hard to come by and maybe that’s why his death was fabricated the way it was.

The Washington Post discovered the cover up of Tillman’s death. Now, members of a congressional oversight panel have vowed to investigate whether the White House and top Pentagon officials played a role in deceiving the public about Tillman’s “friendly fire fatality.”

Having one of the most unselfish, feel-good personalities of the year killed by friendly fire never looks good on the front page of newspapers. That’s why it seems to have been hidden from the media.

This is not the first time things have been covered up and reorganized by the government to make something not quite palpitable appear tasteful and correct.

The truth is: the government too often distracts from real heroic measures by trying too hard to protect itself by covering up the unpleasantries of war.

Pat Tillman was a hero long before he was shot down by one of his own.

Now, he’s the center of much government controversy. Those officials should have let him rest in peace.