There are many problems in the great nation of America, but when looking at any form of social media, one would think that the largest problem we have is football players not standing for the national anthem.
Okay, I get it. When I saw Colin Kaepernick kneel during the national anthem, I was angry. The following week, when I watched other professional athletes do the same thing, I was irate. I was furious. How dare they refuse to stand during a song that promotes allegiance to our homeland and honors those who died protecting it?!
Like I said, I get it. I will not be so ignorant as to try to invalidate their reasoning by saying that I do not understand why they are protesting.
However, it is a crying shame that our honoring September 11th, a day so wrought with terror and pain, a day that ultimately united us as a country, a day that, fifteen years ago, we all stood together as Americans, was largely impeded by mass reactions to players who knelt on a recreational field.
Here are my thoughts on it though.
Look at the image.
There has never been such a fitting symbol of our nation in this moment. My point isn’t the kneeling football players or the uproar that they meet.
My point is that we are a nation divided, perhaps more so now than in any other time in our history.
Political party affiliation.
Race.
Gender.
Religion.
You get my drift. We, as a nation, have completely lost the ability to agree to disagree, and the loss of this ability is literally tearing us apart. The result? If we cannot stand together, if we can only stand divided, we have no choice but to fall as one extremely vulnerable unit.
When looking in, other countries are able to see that they can simply sit back on their haunches and let us destroy ourselves. They won’t have to lift a finger.
I can practically see Putin giddily rubbing his hands together.
The next president we have needs to be a seasoned leader, fiscally knowledgeable, well-versed in foreign policy, but perhaps the most useful quality that he or she could have is the ability to unify us as a country.
From where I am standing, watching the inflammatory rhetoric that Trump and Clinton dish out both at one another and at entire groups of people, I would venture to say that we, as a nation, cannot depend on the next Commander In Chief to encourage national unity.
However, hope is not lost in this.
We have hope in that fact that we, as the American people, can unify ourselves. There has been damage across both sides of the aisle for all, but when the choice is unification or the very destruction of our country, the choice is quite simple.
I would pick unification every time.
Therefore, when you disagree with another's opinions and feel led to spout off hateful remarks at someone, hold your anger.
Learn how to see things from another’s perspective.
Educate yourself on struggles that affect others, even though they are not your own. Simply because you do not struggle with something does not mean that the struggle does not exist.
Learn how to agree to disagree.
And thank the Good Lord and the American Armed Forces that it is your right to do so.
If everyone does their small part to accept others for what and who they are, I believe that our nation would greatly benefit as a whole.
As for me, I will stand proudly, hand over heart, whenever our national anthem is played. I will honor those who fight for our freedom and remember those who gave their lives to do so. I encourage you to do the same.
However, you don’t have to. I will not spew at you insults, derogatory comments, or even tell you to leave the country if you don’t like it.
After all, the same Bill of Rights that allows me to go to church and praise God in public also affords you the freedom of expression.
If anything, I will stand proudly enough for the both of us.
We do not have to agree. But to let our disagreements drive us to division is unacceptable.
