In a sense, we're all Private Ryan.
SPOILER ALERT--key turns of the plot revealed below.
Steven Spielberg has related a fascinating story of Tom Hanks's death monologue near the end of the film. In that scene, a dying Capt. John Miller gives a final order to Ryan. In its original form it was quite a piece of writing--according to the director. But Hanks thought he saw a way to deliver the screenwriter's message with more impact. He spoke to Spielberg on set, and suggested a drastic cut. The result was what we see in the final edit, two of the most poignant words ever spoken on film.
"Earn this."
In the framing sequences of the story, we follow an aging WWII veteran through a graveyard in Normandy. The vet's identity is at first obscured by a misleading shift of POV back into the extended flashback that makes up the bulk of the movie.
We will eventually discover that this man is the older Private Ryan, searching for Capt. Miller's grave site. When he finds it, he falls to his knees, crying, and asks his wife if he's lived a good life. She seems puzzled by this, but assures him that he has. With the major plot events behind us, we understand the full meaning of the question. Ryan needs to know if he has earned the sacrifice of those men who died for his life and freedom.
And since here in the real world many men and women have died for my life and freedom, I am left with the very same question. Have I earned it?
I don't know if this is exactly what Spielberg or screenwriter Robert Rodat saw as the theme to their film. I know that my friend Ken, who was in the last stages of pancreatic cancer when we saw the film together, wept when the lights came up. In that moment he saw himself as Private Ryan. And he wanted to believe he had done the best he could to deserve the sacrifices made for him. I knew the man very well, and I can tell you honestly that I think he had.
In the end, I will consider it a great measure of my own success in life if I can say I've done the same.