Hero

On December 4, 2006 in Baghdad, Ross McGinnis, a 19 year old army soldier, sat in the gunner’s hatch of a Humvee when he saw a grenade land in his Humvee. A fellow soldier said that McGinnis had time to jump out of the Humvee to save himself, a choice that most would have taken. But Ross was not like most. He threw his body on top of the grenade and saved the lives of four of his friends. One of the soldiers he saved says that Ross became part of his family while being stationed together. The saved soldier’s young daughter still remembers Ross nightly almost two years later. “My daughter still, every night when she says her prayers, thanks Ross for saving her daddy's life,"
In the posthumous presentation of McGinnis’ Medal of Honor (the highest award for courage in combat, the 4th given in Iraq), President Bush made an allusion to John 15:3. Often Bush’s use of Christian rhetoric makes me uncomfortable because it either intentionally or unintentionally seems to connect our nation’s activity as being equal with God’s work and the Kingdom of Heaven, but this quote seemed to be extremely fitting.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.”