And as far back as I can remember, Mom and Dad always compared me to him. “Why can’t you be more like Jack?” Dad would say. Or, “It’s time to get it together, Randy. Your brother had already made the football team at your age.” Jack was a football hero in both middle school and high school. Everyone worshipped him. Especially my dad. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t follow in his footsteps. I could only live in his shadow. When he graduated, Jack joined the Army and was shipped off to the war in Iraq. My parents acted like the most important person in the world had left them. Soon after that, Jack became a war hero. He captured a group of enemy soldiers who were about to launch an attack against his platoon. He saved their lives. The whole state was proud of him then. The Mississippi Choctaw tribal newspaper announced the news to everyone in the tribe. The TV news broadcast his achievement to everyone in Mississippi. And sure, I was proud of him too. But how was I ever going to follow in those footsteps?
