By K. Tran
We typically think our favorite athletes are our heroes when they display our country’s great strength during the Super Bowl or Olympics. But we often don’t see beyond this surface as they entertain us. Yusra Mardini, an eighteen-year-old Olympian Syrian swimmer, risked her amazing life to save other refugees as they were all stranded on a crowded sinking boat in an attempt to escape the Syrian War. She and three others pushed the boat to European shore in three and a half hours, swimming in the freezing water. “I was trying to be positive and I was praying with everyone. It was really hard,” Mardini said. Although we all know that Mardini trained long and hard to become an Olympian swimmer in that heroic aspect, we now also see Mardini’s morality during the tragic experience she faced. She could have done nothing and survived on her own. No. She put her life at risk in the open cold water to try to do what’s right: saving the lives of the many. We are lucky to have a thriving symbol of strength, virtue, and selflessness to continue to live on. Her legacy shall never end…
Mardini was not alone. An NFL player named Pat Tillman, who was offered $3.6 million, was going to live the American Dream. Yet this man declined it. For what? To serve his country, the United States, assigned in the Army’s Rangers in a war he did not support. Uncle Sam did not call him to duty. Why did he sacrifice himself? His moral high ground, patriotism for his beloved country, and desire to protect our great democracy when it was tested by a foreign threat after the tragedy on 9/11 all define who he was. Tillman was a brave hero who leads his fellow peers in battle, soon dying in their hands. Their blood… We shall never forget him.
