Forgiveness and Redemption
Most people know the tragic story of Pat Tillman - the NFL star turned Army Ranger who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Few people know about a pivotal night in Pat’s teenage years – a night that could’ve rendered his name and his future inconsequential.
After a Friday night high school football victory, Pat and his friends went out partying. Afterwards at a local pizzeria, some guys from a rival school arrived. Not wanting trouble, the young men turned to leave, but one of Pat’s friends followed them to the parking lot. Pat was still inside chowing pizza when a fight broke out.
Pat was the largest and most menacing of his friends, so naturally they turned to him when they needed backup. He came running from the pizzeria after the fight was nearly over. Seeing Pat’s towering figure emerge through the door like a lion charging into the Colosseum sent the boys scurrying away. Thinking he knew who was beating his friend, Pat mistakenly homed in on a boy named Darin Rosas.
Blinded by booze and anger, Pat quickly caught Rosas and blasted his head with a clenched fist. Rosas instantly crumbled to the concrete. Pat jumped on him like a wolf attacking a deer. He delivered a terrible beating – breaking teeth and mangling Rosas’ face – before friends could pull him off.
Almost immediately Pat realized his error and was overcome with remorse. While he had an extreme capacity for violence - an asset on the football field - he didn’t lack empathy. Pat profusely apologized to Rosas who was too concussed and in too much pain to even know where he was. Pat went home and Rosas went to the hospital.
Shortly after the incident, Pat was charged with felony assault. In the time it took to throw one punch, Pat imagined his future looking less like a dorm room and a football jersey than a prison cell and an orange jumpsuit.
To the dismay of Darin Rosas and his family, the judge reduced Pat’s charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. Luckily for Pat, he kept his scholarship. Unluckily for Pat, he still had consequences to face. The judge sentenced him to serve thirty days at a juvenile detention facility and complete 250 hours of community service. On the morning after his high school graduation, Pat’s parents dropped him off at the county juvenile hall to begin his sentence.
Pat’s sentencing was a pivotal moment in his life, and the judge’s belief in redemption offered him a second chance. It was a moment where, had circumstances been slightly different, Pat’s future as an NFL star and American patriot likely wouldn’t have existed. He could’ve spent two years in an adult prison rather than thirty days in a youth detention facility. Going from high school graduation to serving a prison sentence with hardened criminals is not a recipe for a happy ending. Pat would’ve lost his scholarship and his future as a football star.
Had he still joined the Army and been killed in combat, he would’ve been another statistic. We wouldn’t read books about Pat Tillman, and the Pat Tillman foundation wouldn’t exist.
Had he gone on to do anything else, we simply wouldn’t know his name.
We all have similar moments; we all make mistakes that can alter the course of our lives. What’s so important to remember is that – if given the chance – almost all of us would make good on our mistakes. We would learn from them, grow from them, and become better people. This is easy to remember when we make the mistake. It’s harder when we’re the victim of someone else’s mistake.
Forgiveness isn’t easy. But forgiveness precedes redemption, and a chance at redemption is something we all deserve.
While forgiveness is important, transgressors still need consequences. Had Rosas’ family never pressed charges, Pat may not have learned his difficult lesson. His reckless actions could have continued unchecked, possibly resulting in bigger disasters down the road. Pat would later tell Sports Illustrated that he had learned more from the Rosas incident and his incarceration than he had from "all the good decisions he ever made."
We all make mistakes. We should all be held accountable. And we all deserve a chance at redemption.
One of Rosas’ friends, Erin Clarke, reflected on the outcome years later after hearing of Pat’s death.
“What I take from Pat Tillman,” said Clarke, “is that you are not who you are at your worst moment. After what Pat did to Darin, it seems like he really turned his life around and became quite an honorable person… That judge held Pat’s future in her hands. She had the power to send him down one path or another, and she decided to make what turned out to be a really good decision.
She said ‘I’m going to believe in you – I’m going to believe you’re going to take this opportunity and do the best you possibly can with it.’ And you know what? It sounds like that’s what he did. I don’t think there are many people on this planet who would have done as well with that kind of second chance.”
Forgiveness isn’t an easy action, but it leads to better endings than damnation. The next time you face a decision between the two, remember Pat Tillman.
