RIP Senator John McCain

Why do we honor John McCain? Despite his politics, he was a better man than most of us. When we describe heroes, he is one.

He endured when others would have given up. While held as a POW in Vietnam, he chose to accept years of torture rather than seek the easy way out. Lesser men would have done or said anything to avoid additional years of torture.

"I went back to him three nights later. He asked again, 'Do you want to go home?' I told him 'No.' He wanted to know why, and I told him the reason. I said that Alvarez [first American captured] should go first, then enlisted men and that kind of stuff."
...
"We went through this routine and still I told him 'No' Three nights later we went through it all over again. On the morning of the Fourth of July, 1968, which happened to be the same day that my father took over as commander in chief of U. S. Forces in the Pacific, I was led into another quiz room. 

'The Rabbit' and "The Cat" were sitting there. I walked in and sat down, and 'The Rabbit' said, 'Our senior wants to know your final answer.' 

'My final answer is the same. It's "No."'

'That is your final answer?'

'That is my final answer.'

With this 'The Cat,' who was sitting there with a pile of papers in front of him and a pen in his hand, broke the pen in two. Ink spurted all over. He stood up, kicked the chair over behind him, and said, 'They taught you too well. They taught you too well'—in perfect English, I might add. He turned, went out and slammed the door, leaving 'The Rabbit' and me sitting there. 'The Rabbit' said 'Now, McCain, it will be very bad for you. Go back to your room.'"

Life shows us that it is far more difficult to admit one's errors to the public, let alone to oneself. Throughout his life, John McCain has never shied away from coming clean and taking responsibility for his errors in judgment.

"But the principal reason for invading Iraq, that Saddam had WMD, was wrong. The war, with its cost in lives and treasure and security, can't be judged as anything other than a mistake, a very serious one, and I have to accept my share of the blame for it. None of that was known, of course, that day on the Roosevelt, when I was firm in my convictions, and self-assured. Even if we had been right about Saddam's weapons program, I shouldn't have used the occasion to cheer the prospect of war. All wars are awful."

He is a man of great honor deserving to be remembered for his humility, strength, and earnestness.