Warriors and diplomats seldom occupy the same space, as it is the job of the latter to obviate the former. It is in this tension between apparent opposites, however, that warrior/diplomat John Tannehill found his place in the world. Tannehill, a USA Table Tennis Hall-of-Famer, died of cancer on Thursday at the age 68. A national junior champion, he found his greatest fame in what was called "Ping-Pong Diplomacy." In the heat of the Cold War, communist China was shut off from the Western world. After backing North Korea against the United States in the Korean War, China was again engaged in a proxy war with the United States in Vietnam. As Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz wrote two centuries ago, "War is merely the continuation of politics with other means." In 1954, the premier Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai slyly implied the converse when he remarked, "All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means." Whichever way you look at it, philosophical differences between the communist East and capitalist West were erupting into real-life wars with tragic consequences. In such high-stakes political arenas, diplomacy was literally a matter of life and death. As a member of the 1971 US Table Tennis Team, Tannehill made history when he and his compatriots smashed through decades of Chinese isolationism with a goodwill tour through China, reciprocated by the Chinese team a year later in the United States. Thus, Tannehill's diplomatic bona fides are well-established. He was not, however, one to blindly follow the thinking of his own leaders. In fact, Tannehill at the time was more impressed by his ostensible enemy, Mao Zedong, whom he considered "the greatest moral and intellectual leader in the world today." The fearless young philosopher was always seeking greater truths, unconcerned if he happened to ruffle anyone's feathers in the process. "I’ve decided to be political and suffer the consequences," he said. "Not being political, it’s like not having any mind." Tannehill's quest for truth led him to read Carlos Castaneda, who documented his experiences learning shamanic traditions in Mexico. “I like to think of myself as a warrior, as a man of unbending intent," said Tannehill. "A warrior never indulges himself. He chooses a path with heart, and never doubts himself.” The young spiritual warrior found further inspiration in the works of Søren Kierkegaard. “Purity of heart is to will one thing and then follow that path with passion, without doubt or remorse," said Tannehill after absorbing the Danish philosopher. "Each table tennis shot has to be a symbol of that.” John even named his son Soren. While table tennis was a suitable environment for Tannehill's tactical talents, chess provided a cognitive challenge in distilled form. Even above all his accomplishments in table tennis, the Ohio native savored most his 1979 Columbus City Chess Championship. After the 1970s, Tannehill more or less retired from competitive table tennis. He then embarked on a two-decade career at AMVETS, working in the service of true warriors: America's veterans. In 2011, Tannehill and other members of the 1971 US Table Tennis Team returned to China to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their historic tour. There, Tannehill says he was treated like a "rock star," signing enough autographs to make Justin Bieber jealous. The significance of the visit is not lost on the residents of the now vastly more liberal, capitalist China, even for those not yet born during the visit. While Tannehill's soul-searching was no longer fodder for USA Table Tennis magazines in his later years, it is probably safe to assume that this warrior never gave up his quest for higher truth. As he remarked off-hand a half-century ago, "My religion is probably… life, whatever that is." As his college classmate Joseph Egan put it, "He marched to his own beat." Egan hinted at one of Tannehill's defining dichotomies. "In person, I found John Tannehill one of the sweetest gentlest souls (my wife thought he was like a little puppy dog)," he wrote, "but playing ping pong he was a ruthless player who gave no mercy." Tannehill promoted peace through Ping-Pong Diplomacy and brought peace to America's heroic warriors through his service with AMVETS. John Tannehill, philosopher, spiritual seeker, diplomat and warrior, has finally found peace of his own.

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