Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan yesterday.

Tillman gave up his multi-million dollar NFL career after 9/11 to serve as an Army Ranger.

He was a brave man who was willing to risk his life to further values he judged to be worthwhile. He died doing that. I don’t want to die, but Pat Tillman’s life and death remind me that it’s noble to live, and possibly die, promoting great values.

I think that’s what we should all strive to do.

UPDATE: Just to be clear… I don’t think he’s more of a hero because he died. I think he was heroic when he signed up with the intention of serving as a Ranger to defend us against islamist terrorists. All of our soldiers are brave, but his decision was more heroic than most because he had to explicitly choose between a conventionally glamorous life and a much more dangerous, less glamorous, path that he correctly judged would do more good for his values. His death is just sad.

He didn’t do it for attention and glory; he shunned those. He did it for liberty.