Never Forget! And United We Stand!
May we Never Forget!
And may we begin to come together as a nation again, instead of finding more ways to divide! We will only stand if we stand united!
A couple of interesting opinion pieces:
[There are many areas of "non-unity" in America right now. Many things we could talk about. But I am going to look at one: kneeling during the anthem. Because we are back in football season, having to again see those who kneel during the anthem. And I, for one, think this is counterproductive. It divides us and hurts our country, instead of helping in any way.
I am thankful for the country we live in, for the rights and privileges we have. Despite the problems we have in America, I respect our flag, our national anthem, the soldiers who have fought and died so that we could be free.
I am thankful for the country we live in, for the rights and privileges we have. Despite the problems we have in America, I respect our flag, our national anthem, the soldiers who have fought and died so that we could be free.
And I would love to see all the football players stand and honor this country, too. Our flag. Our national anthem. Those who fought and died so that those football players could live a life of playing football and getting paid way too much money to do it.
They live in one of the most free, most affluent, safest countries in the world ... and they are taking a stand against it, stirring up more division than we had before.
Personally, I loved it when the one team stood for the flag and linked arms. That would be a great way to make your point about unity, about equality - linking arms, standing together for the kind of country you want.
But instead of standing together, side by side with the other players, arms linked in unity, they have chosen to distance themselves from others, to kneel on their own, separated instead of unified. They are participating in the kind of division that they are trying to take a stand against.
Bizarre!
How can they expect unity and equality when they fight for unity and equality by kneeling alone, away from the team, spitting in the face of everyone who respects the flag and who fought and died for our country!?! (I know their intention isn't to spit, but that's how it comes across to many others.)
They are adding to the problem, not making it better. They are causing the very division they think they are opposing.
Why couldn't they all just link arms and stand together for the flag? Would that have been so hard!?! Standing together. Unified. As equals. Why couldn't they be the change that they want to see instead of being the division they are fighting against?
Such a shame it got to this point. That they had to turn a fun past-time into a dividing, political statement. Such a shame!
I love this t-shirt I recently saw:
Stand For The Flag
Kneel For The Cross!
I think we'd have a lot more unity if we all did!
(And personally, I think part of the problem is that some of the kneeling has become more about "protesting Trump" than about "protesting racism." It's mixing its agendas, confusing everyone, and so no one knows what's really going on or what they're protesting or what they're kneeling for. Such a mess.)
(And personally, I think part of the problem is that some of the kneeling has become more about "protesting Trump" than about "protesting racism." It's mixing its agendas, confusing everyone, and so no one knows what's really going on or what they're protesting or what they're kneeling for. Such a mess.)
Here's an old post I wrote on the "kneeling protests." And here's an old, excellent, thoughtful piece by someone who supports the kneeling protests: NFL players kneeling during the anthem is not unpatriotic. Very well done. Made me think. It's good to explore both sides of this issue.
For the record, I have no problem with what these kneelers are trying to do, with what they are fighting for. It's just the way they're doing it that bothers me. Because it's causing more division than unity. It's kneeling alone against something instead of standing together for something. It's taken a fun, relaxing, good-natured past-time that brought people together over the years and turned it into a dividing, angering, political thing. (Do we really need more of that!?!) And it's violated the ways we show support for and respect for our veterans - the national anthem and the flag they fought for. Did they have to commandeer the flag and the anthem? Did they have to twist it into a racial thing and steal the respect from the veterans to make their point? Regardless of what their intentions were, this is what's happened. I just think they could have done it differently.]
For the record, I have no problem with what these kneelers are trying to do, with what they are fighting for. It's just the way they're doing it that bothers me. Because it's causing more division than unity. It's kneeling alone against something instead of standing together for something. It's taken a fun, relaxing, good-natured past-time that brought people together over the years and turned it into a dividing, angering, political thing. (Do we really need more of that!?!) And it's violated the ways we show support for and respect for our veterans - the national anthem and the flag they fought for. Did they have to commandeer the flag and the anthem? Did they have to twist it into a racial thing and steal the respect from the veterans to make their point? Regardless of what their intentions were, this is what's happened. I just think they could have done it differently.]