Dear Colin Kaepernick,

I have tried and tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. I have explored your point of view and while I understand and respect that you were standing up for what you believe in, I do not agree with nor respect how you did it.

You're not making headlines for your athletic ability so you had to get back in the headlines, I understand.

Here are two facts that you may not know:

You make $700,000+ for throwing a football, not including all of your endorsement deals. U.S. soldiers make don't even make anywhere near that; some soldiers have to apply for government assistance. These are the same soldiers that are fighting to give you the freedom to kneel in front of a flag that they are bursting their ass to protect.

Every 22 seconds, a soldier commits suicide because they suffer from PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a disorder caused from traumatic events such as a war. A war that is being fought to protect this amazing country that we live in that gives us the freedoms that people take for granted.

If you want to talk about a real injustice, let's talk about the rapist that just got out of jail after THREE MONTHS of time served. Let me repeat, THREE MONTHS FOR RAPE. The poor woman that he raped will probably have PTSD and need months of therapy after that, as do many soldiers once they get back from war.

Without the United States of America, you would not have your college and NFL football career and you would not have the platform you've used recently.

I recently talked with CPL Logan W. Casner of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines to get his thoughts on the controversial topic, this is what he had to say,

"It's not his fault for not knowing what it means to myself and my fellow military members, to me it's very disrespectful because when I stand and salute the flag, I'm not saluting the country itself, I'm saluting it for my brothers and sisters who haven't made it back so that he can take a knee, so that he can play football freely, so that he can do a lot of things without fear of being prosecuted or worse... There are better ways to do this without disrespecting our military members."

These men and women have seen things we can't even being to comprehend, some of them work seven days a week, you play a game one day a week. Mr. Kaepernick, you have opened people's eyes about social injustices, but what you've also done is cause a nation that IS one nation under God to disrespect others opinions, disrespect others sacrifices and disrespect others beliefs. I understand what you are saying and I have had numerous conversations with others that have similar views, civil conversations that result in understanding from both parties.

While you were so hell bent on uniting us, you just managed to crack a nation with your beliefs and your blatant disregard of others' beliefs. Do I believe that you should've gotten death threats for your beliefs? Absolutely not - no one deserves that for expressing their opinion. What you did was smart if nothing else. You brought light to a subject that needed light shed on it, simultaneously disrespecting the men and women who have lost their lives fighting to protect you freedoms.

So while you're kneeling during the National Anthem and inspiring others to kneel as well, just remember this: you may have gotten your beliefs recognized, however, at the same time, you managed to shut down everyone else's and that is not what this nation is about. You were fighting for your freedom of speech while disrespecting the country that gave you that right; you, Mr. Kaepernick are a hypocrite.

Sincerely,

A pissed off American

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