When I first wrote this article, it was an opinion piece where I wrote out all my thoughts, but now I’ve decided that I’m not going to tell you how I feel about Kaepernick’s message because frankly, you probably don’t care. You don’t want to hear my opinion. You want to hear your opinion coming out of my mouth, or my fingers if you want to get technical. The point is that after I submitted my original article, I spent hours wondering whether I should delete the article all together. Why?

Honestly, it was because I was scared. I was worried about what people would say to me if I put my opinion out there. I saw the terrible things that people were saying about Kaepernick, including those who defended him and those who disagreed with him. I saw all the hateful and degrading comments that people were making, and I was worried that, no matter what I said, I was going to receive some of those comments myself.

After a while, I realized that this whole ordeal is more important than an opinion. Kaepernick’s opinion is not necessarily the problem here. The problem is the response. The problem is the fact that I was too worried to voice my opinion even though my original article didn’t even insult anybody at all.

Honestly, most of you don’t care about someone’s opinion unless that person agrees with you. If someone dares to disagree, even on the smallest matters like a freaking cupcake recipe on Facebook, many people will hurl insults like there’s no tomorrow. That’s sad.

I don’t care whether or not you agree with someone, but you’re allowed to express your opinion. I’m allowed to express my opinion, and so is everyone else. That includes Colin Kaepernick. He is not paid to “throw the ball and shut up.” He is paid to play football or sit on the bench or whatever, but the point is that his football contract does not revoke his right to an opinion. He is very much allowed to express his opinion.

I’m not saying I agree with Colin or disagree with him. That doesn’t matter, but I like the way he expressed his opinion much more than I like the way most people on social media are expressing their opinions on social media. Colin didn’t hurt anybody. He sat, and then explained why he sat. That’s it. If you find that disrespectful, that’s fine. That’s your opinion, but social media users are expressing their opinions by bullying him and anyone who dares to defend him in the slightest. That is not okay.

No one should feel too scared to express their opinions. Everyone has one, and everyone should be able to voice an opinion without people insulting them and trying to silence them. You don’t have to care. You don’t have to agree, but don’t you dare try to silence someone because you disagree. Period.