As we watched last year and into this year professional sports players protesting the National Anthem, many viewpoints have found their way into the public domain. The most prevailing argument, “it is their right to express their personal views.” Our country which was founded on great freedoms is not founded on personal freedoms as the culture defines them today. There are several things that I want to cover but I very quickly want to address something right off the top.
By kneeling, sitting, stretching, waiting in a locker room, or doing something other than standing up and being still (other words, not being a distraction – camera folks are not still but are also not being a distraction either) is protesting and showing a lack of respect for the values, the virtues and the potential of what America is. These people who are protesting America (because they are protesting the flag that represents it and the song that represents it) are only bringing attention to themselves and not to any issue that they may speak about. Their protest has become center stage and their statement has become bigger than any issues than they seem to be fighting for.
They are more concerned with their own images and their own team, their own sport and their own statements than any sort of issues, whether real or perceived. Remember this all started by Colin Kaepernick who also never registered to vote so he was not going to take part in the Constitutional right to change the governmental body, and he also has great faith in a dictator by the name of Fidel Castrol. Those few facts should demonstrate the level of how much understanding he has in the truth of what he was protesting, also the fact that once he was out of a job he rescinded the fact that he would continue his demonstrations as to be less of a distraction.
Now that we have established that regardless of what these athletes and owners and news reports say, they are really protesting America and are at the heart of the matter protesting the community and the unity of America, the very solidarity that they seek to build, let’s move on to why that is so.
As I stated earlier America is built upon freedoms but not so much as personal freedoms as we like to think. In the last 30 years or so a lot of Americans like to believe we can do whatever it is that we want to do as long as it does not hurt anyone else. This is a false idea, and here is why. If we are a society then we are a community and that means we are first a unit and to be a unit we must have relationships. Now to have a relationship means we must have communications. To say we are community and then not interact, not rely, not communicate or commune with one another is really paramount to being on different planets without radio contact.
I tell you that what one person does, it will affect those around them, it may not be earth shattering or family history altering, but there will be an impact if they’re lives interact even in the simplest of ways. This is observed by our moods, when we are happy people around us will be happier, when we are sad or mad, people around us will be so. Of course the analogy here only works to a certain degree but so does the idea that the nation is a community. How many people who live in Northwest Arkansas feel like they are a community with people in Seattle Washington? Only if you know people (friends, family, have heritage, life experience, etc.) there, but we are all Americans and that has been lost, because we see ourselves first as individuals. Another easier way to describe it, we have become selfish and greedy.
You don’t have to be the mega rich and in the 1% to be greedy and selfish. Many of those in the 1% give more money to charity both in dollar amount and in percentage of income than many of the 99%, so who is greedier and who is the more charitable if it is measured by the amount given? The idea I am illustrating here is that we paint a picture that is not a true reflection of the reality that we live in. We protest the symbols of unity in the name of unity because it is our individual right to do so in order to bring about unity. If that statement makes no sense to you, then I hope you are not one who supports the American protesters, because that is their logic, whether they articulate it like that or not, but that is what it is.
Something else that I want to bring up is that these athletes want to bring about change or bring about awareness to social injustices or inequalities. Now obviously this is a sensitive subject that I am treading on so I am going to say this, we are all one race, just different shades. There are bad things that happen, and unfortunately they happen all too often, but does that make America a terrible nation? Think of some of the nations in Europe still have social class structures, some nations in Africa are in the midst of generational old civil wars and children are kidnapped from their homes and forced into the military. There are problems within our society but America actually gives us the best chance to fix them, by allowing us to work them out through communication and expression, but expression of a view does not lead to change, only through hard work and dedication.
Hard work and dedication to the cause was championed and won a lot of victories in the 1950’s and 1960’s with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But on the flip side almost all civil liberties were lost in the 1960’s in Afghanistan because there was no dialog; there was only one way communication, a one way story being told. Much like the protests, the story being told is that America is broken and nothing is good. If that is so then where is the dialog to fix these problems and who is spearheading the resolution of these issues? What are these athletes doing besides disrespecting their fellow Americans?
I can tell you that there is far more good things in America than bad, and we have a chance to make a difference and to change those things that are bad. That is what makes America great. All of what is stated to here is to point out the truth, that the people protesting America do so under the faith of a lie. I want to be clear that there are true injustices that have happened, and those happen all the time and those are perpetuated far more by criminals who are not in a police uniform, why is that not being protested and why is that not on the mind and playing field of American sports?
If bringing social injustice to the forefront of the American mind, there are better ways to do that then to protest America. But one such injustice is that criminals behind bars have better benefits than some free Americans. The criminal has rescinded his rights to be a contributing member of society, but the homeless and the socioeconomically down trotted person may not have the ability to reach their full potentials. Should we not invest in the people that have a desire to help society and not hurt it?
The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell commented that he was proud of “our” league for their demonstrations of their individual views, but there is the flip side to this coin. If a player demonstrates their individual views with regard to their uniform during a game, they are fined a set dollar amount. If a player demonstrates their individual views with regard to team rules they can be fined and/or suspended games. What is more important the nation that allows the athletes to play a game and make on average more money in a single year what most Americans will make in their entire working life, or a game of football? Some will say “yes, but there are rules governing the game and how the uniform and what they do during the anthem there is no rule.” And I would say they are absolutely correct, but if we look to rules and laws to govern our lives then where do we draw the line?
With rules and laws have to come punishments and then there has to be those who enforce them. If there is no punishment or enforcement then what is the point of a rule or law? Where would we be if we had laws for everything? Something like this occurred with the sons of Israel. When God gave them the Law, it was so that they would live differently, they would stand out from the nations that would exist around them. Now they took God’s perfect law and made it a standard of judgement instead of an arrow. It should have pointed them to the fact that they could not meet God’s perfect requirements and that they were in need of a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.It is only through His great and wonderful gift of grace and mercy that we have been given our salvation.
We as Christians should be patriotic to our country, and especially to America. First we are called to be obedient to the authority that God has placed over us. Second, because of what was declared in our Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Standing for the National Anthem is a symbol of respect. Much like the American Flag and the Anthem itself, these are merely symbols, but they demonstrate something to ourselves, to our children, and to the rest of the world. That we respect and honor what America means and what America has done, think of all of the positive things America has done for itself, its people and the world. It demonstrates that we are not a group of individuals, but a united group of people with individual traits that makes them all better.
So next time the National Anthem is played I ask that you show respect for a nation that has provided so much more than what a 2,000 word article could ever hope to cover. Even if you are at home I would challenge you to stand up, place your right hand over your heart like you love this nation and demonstrate respect for the nation, for yourself, and for each other.
Iron Striking Iron 