See there has been much debate regarding the activities of
some Athletes (Celebrities) regarding when the Anthem is played at sporting
events. The American public is outraged at these activities and I hear that
some of the sports owners have created punitive measures if such activities are
continued.
This outrage is wrong as it denies the true gesture of
respect from these individuals. It further denies them the true reward &
value of being an American.
See, the first step to honor the anthem is to STAND. These
celebrities do stand. They stand and then, and only then, take a stance of
protest. They do not just keep sitting there. They do not gesture in any way
but especially in any vulgar way. They just kneel in protest.
They Stand! Repeat after me, they Stand!
The Americanism being denied them is freedom. This is a
country born of protest. Some whackadoodle across the ocean acted in some
reprehensible ways and we protested. Our protests met with hostile responses
and thus the Revolutionary war was a result. The birth of this country was
about Freedom. Freedom to make good, and bad, choices.
So here we are a proud bunch of citizens denying other
citizens the freedom to protest of which such action was a parent to this
country. I do not find such actions antagonizing to my American pride. In fact,
I choose the opposite. Whenever someone engages in such polite honorable
protest I cheer.
I cheer for them exercising their God given rights to
choose. I cheer them living in a country that grants them the freedom to
protest the country itself. I cheer for their bravery and let's not lie about
this: Doing this is not for the faint of heart.
I cheer for them engaging in freedoms that I sweated and
bled to protect. I served, I served at war, and I took an oath to defend this
country from its enemies. Foreign or domestic, ones that is. So when I see any
person in America trying to deny these celebrities the right to protest, I have
to ask are those persons a domestic enemy of the state or do they simply just
don't get what being an American means. I settle on blaming our education system as granting such
persons the title of "enemy of the state" grants them more honor they
have earned.
However, in closing you, the reader, have every right * freedom to protest their protest. But please return their protest with the some honor and respect with which they gave their protest for us to complain about. After all, fair is fair.