Pat Tillman

As Memorial Day draws closer I find myself reminded of one of my heroes, Pat Tillman. In honor of him, I wanted to post about him, and what I draw inspiration from. Now keep in mind I did not personally know Pat Tillman, so these are from things I have read about him. None the less you can see he modeled: Challenge Yourself, and Live Life to the Fullest!


"But the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.''

He seemed to portray the sense of being willing to step up and take charge of any situation.

He pushed the limits in life.

He was a non-conformist.

He measured himself by the intensity of his experiences.

He openly squeezed life with both hands – no peeking through closed doors.

He was unconventional – damn the norm!

His waters ran deep.

Don’t tell me about the pain, show me the baby.

He only had one speed.

He was willing to talk and connect with anyone.

He lived his life true to his convictions, without apologizing or making excuses.

He was humble, soft-spoken, and polite.

He turned every encounter into nothing more or less than two human beings talking.

He was the most respectful gutter mouth you ever met, the politest man ever to reach across a restaurant table and dunk his sticky hands into your glass of water.

So playful and so serious, so transparent and so mysterious, so kind and so frightening, so loud and so silent ... so juxtaposed. So at ease with himself that he could meet you wherever you were.
He knew that fear was what stood between a man and an extraordinary life, and the surest way through it was to stare it down over and over, until that gaze became habit.
He lived by a creed of accountability – Take it in the forehead.
He burned with authenticity.
He also challenged others about negative attitudes.
He didn’t think he was better than anyone else.
He had the courage to always test himself.

During a time when we pay our respects to those who have given their lives in our defense it seems only appropriate to take pause, and remember that though they are gone their memories live within us. And hopefully those memories challenge us to do more with the time we have.