Sunday, April 25, 2004

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.

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