Value of a life

So, we've all heard the news about the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan (I first heard about it from all-encompassingly). The flurry of media attention given to his death contrasted with the relative lack thereof for other fallen soldiers. Why? And what was a key point of most reporting of his death? The fact that he gave up a 3.6 million dollar salary to serve his country. Money, money, money -- is that really such a big differentiator? Other soldiers have given up their families, their futures. Isn't even a few million dollars a pittance compared with that? It seems that we care so much about money that we value a fallen soldier who gave up a large salary more than we do another soldier who didn't. “Net worth,” indeed.

It's Personal

I started my foray into blogging with a Mormon-themed blog, Let Us Reason. Almost immediately, I discovered that there were things I wanted to blog that didn't really fit into the focus I wanted on Mormonism in that blog. I needed a personal blog. And voilà! GrasshopperMuse was born.

Though I use the online moniker “Grasshopper”, my “real life” identity is Christopher Bradford. I live in Minnesota and work as an internet consultant. My wife Lucy and I have five boys. Amazingly, I somehow find the time to read a lot, particularly online, where I participate in a few discussion boards and as a regular commenter on various blogs in the Mormon Blogosphere, affectionately known as the Bloggernacle (a term I coined).

This blog will deal with cultural, political, artistic, and personal musings, hopefully complementary to Let Us Reason.