Why Everyone Should Stand During The National Anthem

Everyone seems to have a very particular stance when it comes to the Colin Kaepernick issue.

For those of you who aren't aware, Colin Kaepernick is the quarterback for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. He is currently refusing to stand during the National Anthem at his football games and many other players around the league are choosing to join him. He claims to be supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement by stating, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

Regardless of whether it's a stunt for publicity, I think most people would agree that no one wants to live in a country that oppresses any race, but choosing to not stand during the National Anthem can't be the answer either.

Of course there are negatives about this country, I'm not going to disregard those, but rather focus on what makes this country worth standing up for.

By choosing to not stand up for the National Anthem, you are protesting the nation as a whole. Just because Kaepernick, as well as others, are unhappy with the country's status, doesn't discredit all the good that the country has done and is still doing right now.

You should stand up for the soldiers protecting our country everyday because they could sacrifice their lives to save yours. Stand up for the police and the firefighters that do their jobs right everyday to make this country a safer place. Stand up for your country that has given you all the precious rights and freedoms that you are lucky enough to have been given.

Kaepernick utilizes one of these freedoms, the freedom of expression, so why won't he stand up for the country that gave him that right?

He isn't protesting the nation enough to refuse to play football in this country and collect his paycheck worth millions of dollars, so he should acknowledge all the good that the country has to offer. Like all our freedoms: expression, religion, speech, assembly, press, and petition. And all our rights: voting, marrying whomever we wish, owning property, equal justice, free education, traveling anywhere we want to go, joining a political party, and so many others. Us as Americans forget to realize all the freedoms we have everyday that not every nation is fortunate enough to share.

All I have to say is everyone can do what they think is right, we have all been charmed to be given that freedom to express our desires. That luxury amid all other luxuries this country has fought for and struggled through, is reason enough to stand up for your country, THIS COUNTRY, The United States of America. We as a nation need to stand united regardless of what we differ on, especially on days of tragedy like 9/11, where some NFL players continued to kneel even on it's 15th anniversary. Whether you are conservative or liberal, black or white, straight or gay, young or old, we all are lucky enough to live in the best country in the world. We can work through these difficult times, like we have done so in the past.

Yet refusing to stand up for the nation that protects you, and let's you live out your dream like Colin's of professional football, is disrespectful to the sporting community and the nation as a whole.