A letter to you Colin Kaepernick:

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I looked up as the rain stopped falling from the gray rain clouds lingering above my head. It was an oddly warm day in January but something about the air felt cold. I remember tugging on the bottom of my dad’s Air Force jacket hoping that if I pulled hard enough then maybe, just maybe he wouldn’t have to leave. I didn’t pull hard enough, and before I could pull one more time, he was gone. I watched him drive away in that coach bus as I stood there hand in hand with my mother and my three siblings. He was gone, he wouldn’t be back for a whole four months. He wouldn’t be there when my little brother went to preschool, he wouldn’t be there for my tenth birthday and he wouldn’t be there when my mom’s anxiety kicked in.

I look back now, as a nineteen-year-old college student and I feel sad for my ten-year-old self. I’m sad because I knew that wouldn’t be the last time he went away, but that little girl nine years ago thought it would be. The second time he went away didn’t get easier, but it was manageable.

The thing that I realize now is that I’m actually one of the lucky ones. My dad came back to me and my family. He was there when I got my driver’s license, he videotaped me as I was given my diploma and he answers my phone calls every time I feel homesick. There are some kids whose parents leave and never come back, there are wives that never get to be snuggled with by their husbands anymore and there are the kids that never even got to know their daddy or mommy.

So why am I trying to get your attention Colin Kaepernick? Why do I care about you at all? This is true, you are nothing to me, but your actions right now are everything. How dare you kneel during the National Anthem. Just think about it this way, while you kneel on the ground of these beautiful fields, filled with people, making millions of dollars, a soldier is kneeling next to one of his fellow soldiers who's just been shot as he takes his last breath. I care because while you’re trying to protest the police forces in this country, you’re degrading our military services. The national anthem is our time to say thank you to the soldiers that fight to protect this country. There are plenty of soldiers that actually support what you’re standing up for. They agree that there are things going on in this country that aren’t OK. Everyone feels that there should be more unity and acceptance in our country. As the daughter of a veteran, my biggest problem with your protest is the fact that you’re kneeling during such a sacred time when we’re trying to thank our troops.

As easy as it would be to sit here and blame everything on the police, we can’t do that, because not all of this is their fault. There are people of every field of work that don’t always do the right thing. There are plenty of corrupt police but there are also lawyers, doctors and teachers that do bad things. Who are the people that guard your stadium? Who are the people that protected you when you were young? Who are the people that will still protect you even after all the trouble you’ve caused? It’s the police: so why are we targeting them and blaming our problems on them? While you’re trying to speak out against the police system in our country, you’re taking away from the sentimental value that we, as Americans take from the National Anthem.

The biggest thing I can say to you Colin Kaepernick is that I agree with you. I agree that we need to work towards finding equality for everyone in this country. We need to work on fixing today so we can have a more beautiful tomorrow. However, I think there is a better time for you to engage in protesting. Your problem isn’t with the country as a whole, it’s with the police forces and finding equality. As a popular NFL player, I think it would be more valuable for you to hold a press conference to voice your opinion. You can work together with police to try and find neutral grounds so this problem no longer exists. The only way to make this country a happier place is to come together and look at each other as equals rather than people from different origins.