Many people in this country do not understand that it is better to live one second as a hero than a thousand years as a coward.
Jungle Work
Just how would one know this if it has not been experienced?
So we are martyring Mark Wilson? Martyring is often an emotion-based rationalization for justifying a senseless death, either before or after it occurs. Notions of being honored for dying in battle and kamikazi come to mind.
Surely you can't be serious in this sentiment? First, the statement flies in the face of the whole concept of self defense. The purpose of self defense, or in defense of others, is to survive. Mark Wilson was very involved in self defense training for the purpose of surviving potential conflicts.
Secondly, it assumes that somebody like Mark Wilson somehow got some benefit out of feeling like he was a hero for that very short period of time that he was involved in the fight. Mark Wilson never had any insight as to whether he was a hero or not and judging by the quoted comments made about his personal character by his friends. He would not have considered himself as a hero. His acts were in character for what he did normally, trying to help out.
Thirdly, it presupposes that not being involved somehow makes people cowardly.
Self sacrifice is not always prudent and is often quite wasteful. Mark Wilson is a hero, a dead hero, now a martyr apparently. And, contrary to the highly emotional notion that living for one second as a hero is better than living a thousand years as a coward, Mark Wilson's acts did not somehow instantly improve his quality of life in a manner to make it all worthwhile for him. He had no way of knowing if his acts were successful or not. Based on comments made by FBI officers in the Miami FBI shootout in 1986 when Platt advanced on their position and found them behind their car, reloading, if Mark Wilson was conscious and he saw what was going on when Arroyo walked over and shot him, then his last seconds of life were not in the vein of enjoying his heroic status, but in something of terror, dread, and realizing that he was going to die at that very moment in a manner that was not of his choosing.