Are players and coaches kneeling during our National Anthem ruining the game?
Before we get started, let me clarify that this is just my opinion. There is no need to turn this post into a Facebook threat If you disagree with me for Christ sake.
Now let’s begin,
There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the topic of professional athletes kneeling during our National Anthem. It’s a subject, that everyone has an opinion on. We’ve all seen the guy on social media go from zero to 100 real quick to try and shove their opinion down your throat, and EXPLAIN TO YOU IN ALL CAPS, WHY YOU ARE WRONG! It doesn’t take much to set some off, and people are going as far as to declare that they are giving up on their sports teams all together in response to the players kneeling.
Both sides are understandable. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives for the flag. There are those that take the kneeling as disrespect to those who have fallen. Thoughts being, they gave their lives for you and that flag, so get on your feet and respect it.
Understandable….
But who’s pulling from the other side in this game of tug of war?
What about the thought that focuses on what the flag represents? America, freedom of speech, freedom of expression. Again, many have given their lives fighting for our flag. Fighting for all of us to ensure that we still have our freedom and the ability to express ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. So if soldiers are fighting for our freedom, and people feel the need to protest against racial inequality, aren’t we just exercising our rights allowed to us by our military? That’s not disrespectful, that’s what they’re fighting for.
Here’s my thing, the way I’ve always heard it, and the way that its always been is “please stand for our National Anthem.” “May we all rise and remove our caps for our nations National Anthem” I understand athletes using their platform in kneeling to protest racial and social inequalities. It’s a powerful platform, and in kneeling they raise awareness to these points.
I personally will always make the decision to stand up for our country and flag. I see standing during our National Anthem in the same light as standing up when you are introduced to someone new. Now those two things aren’t the same, but they are both examples of being respectful. That’s the driving factor in my decision to stand, respect. I believe that as professional athletes there are multiple ways to make contribution in fighting racial and social injustice. With taking a knee to raise awareness, I mean, I think we’re all pretty aware, and as we kneel, we divid. Here’s the main thing, racism is real, inequality is real. That needs to be fixed. I believe everyone needs to find common ground in the FACT that we are all equal. Whether you’re a man, a woman, black, white, blue, purple, or yellow no one should be treated differently or allowed less than others. No one reading this is better than me, just as I’m no better than any of my readers. The problem is that not everyone agrees with those last few sentences.
We need to figure out a way to bring everyone together. As I said the kneeling is dividing us, people kneel to bring awareness. Everyone is pissed about the kneeling because it disrespects our military. Those aren’t even the same things. I See that we’re taking one issue, which is a huge issue in racial injustice and we’re protesting the flag in that it represents freedom and equality, and not everyone is treated the same. The people that are mad about the kneeling, again are mad that people are disrespecting our country. We went from one issue to two. We need a new way that will unite us rather than divide us so we can fight racism and inequality together side by side.
Now let’s lighten the mood for the ending
I made it obvious that my opinion is that we should stand. If your opinion is the complete opposite from mine, guess what? That is 100% fine, like seriously bro…. it’s fine. We’re all entitled to our own opinions. Does seeing players kneel piss me off? No, not at all, they have their opinions and are doing what they believe is right. You know what people should do??? What they think is right! Anyone willing to give up on baseball because players on your team are kneeling needs to take a chill pill. I watch baseball games everyday, EVERyday (I wonder if anyone will read that in the way that I just said it out loud….) ANYWAY, I watch baseball everyday and I don’t even notice the kneeling. I turn on a baseball game to watch the game. I don’t turn it on just to see who’s all kneeling so I can get hulk angry, kick my dog, and call people names on the internet.
Quit letting all of this ruin your day, let baseball unite us, it’s fun. Just enjoy the game man!
OR WOMAN!🙂
Originally published at http://mysfgiantstop.com on August 12, 2020.
