My issue with Chris Kyle is not him personally. I know he was on record saying some hateful things about the people he was called upon to kill, but I am inclined to cut him some slack. From experience I know that in those situations, it is often hard not to think those things. My real problem is the chorus of hyperdulia being sung to him, and what it may say about us. Jason Dunham jumped on a grenade in 2004. His funeral was held in his high school gym in the small town of Scio, NY, and about 1500 came. A few years later he got the Congressional Medal of Honor. When Chris Kyle died at a shooting range in Texas, he was given a state funeral with a 200 mile procession and the use of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Several thousand took part either in the procession or the ceremony. Now, I cannot say he was not brave, and he probably showed remarkable guts many times in Iraq. But his bravery did not make him famous and win him a place in American hearts; being a damn good shot did that. Dunham did a braver deed and got a better medal for it, but it was Kyle who got the state funeral and the movie. But my concern isn’t about either of them, it’s about us. While we officially still admire effort and conduct over objective results, it almost looks like our hearts really judge our war dead, not by their sacrifice, but by their stats – if you will, by their body count. If that is how you assign honor, you can skip the statues and memorials and just put up a leaderboard.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 20:53:09 +0000
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