I can’t believe that three years after Kaepernick took a knee we’re still kicking his name around our culture. Had you asked me a couple years ago I’d have sworn to you that nobody would remember who the hell he was by now. But, here we are.
That prompted me to dig up something I wrote on Facebook September 25th, 2017. I’ve re-read it and even after the commercials, the “Betsy Ross” Shoes and all the media hype, I still stand behind it:
First and foremost, I’m not trying to sway anyone’s opinion. I don’t care what you buy or don’t buy, wear or don’t wear, watch or don’t watch. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, you’re okay in my book.
I’m typing this in an effort to get my thoughts in order and get this weight off my chest. I’ve kept quiet through most of this, but between the talking heads in the media and my friends on facebook I feel like my head is about to explode.
I spent most of my life in the military. I shed blood, sweat and tears on every corner of this planet. Somewhere in the middle of that career I spent six months as the NCOIC on a funeral detail in Eastern North Carolina. There’s a lot of military on the coast of NC. Over those six months we averaged almost six funerals a week. A little bit of math tells you that I handed a folded flag to a grieving widow or next of kin in the ballpark of 150 times. Regardless of the repetitive nature of doing something with that kind of frequency it never got easier. I’ve had more friends and family carried to their final resting place under that flag than I can even venture to count. That flag means something to me…as does the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem.
When I enlisted, and subsequently reenlisted over the years, I swore to defend the Constitution of the United States. That Constitution is what guarantees us our rights as Americans…our freedom. That freedom is the most important thing in the world to me. I’m sure it’s important to everyone, but until you’ve been embedded in a culture that has limited or no freedom at all, I’m not sure that you can truly appreciate it. I understand that freedom isn’t tangible…it’s more of an idea…but believe it or not, it’s more precious than anything you could ever hold in your hands. But, tangible or not, freedom is fragile. It can be taken away….I’ve also heard a cell door close behind me…so I know what it’s like to have your freedom suspended.
Now…I’m listening to a lot of Americans telling other Americans that they need to pack their bags and go elsewhere if they’re not going to say the Pledge or stand for the Anthem. I can’t seem to get on board with that. An American citizen has the right to protest peacefully, even if a portion of the country finds that protest disrespectful. By telling them to pack their bags for protesting, you’re theoretically closing that cell door behind them….telling them not to enjoy the freedoms that so many have fought for. The same amendments to the Constitution that protect my right to bear arms, protect our freedom of expression. For me to condemn someone for exercising their rights under the Constitution would more or less be the same as saying that I’d wasted my entire adult life defending the freedom of American citizens. You can’t pick which parts of the Constitution you like on any given day…you have to take it as a whole…and along with protecting my firearms, it protects our right to protest. I don’t agree with the methods they’ve chosen, but from the public outcry, it sure does seem to be effective.
Look at what this has spun into. One man took a knee to bring attention to what he deemed racial injustice. I think he could have found a better vehicle for that message, but you can’t argue the effectiveness of his actions…he had the whole country up in arms within twelve hours. It’s a year later and now we have a President bashing American citizens for exercising their rights, entire teams not taking the field for the Anthem, the media and social media is ablaze with opinions and damn near everyone has forgotten the original intent of the first protest.
Now we’ve come to a point where everyone who wears a NFL, MLB, or NBA jersey is being labeled a threat to the American way of life. Yeah….I think they’re overpaid….yeah, I think a lot of them have poor social skills and make piss-poor decisions in some cases. BUT….do ya’ll remember how much good these guys do in their communities? They’re constantly showing up in children’s hospitals, working with the Make a Wish foundation, helping build houses for single mothers, participating in USO tours, etc., etc. They’re not all saints…but dammit, they’re not all bad guys either. They’re AMERICANS…..you’re going to find saints and sinners in every demographic you decide to dissect in this melting pot.
The thing that’s kind of torturing my soul is that a couple months ago everyone was pissed off because people wanted some Civil War statues torn down because some groups were offended by those statues. I can’t count the number of memes I saw taunting people for being “offended”. Those same people who were pissed off now want the NFL brought to its knees because THEY’RE offended about a peaceful protest.
I’ve got news for you. We’re never ALL going to see eye to eye. It’s a weakness of a free society…but it’s also our strength. We all see things differently. If we can learn to open our minds and our hearts to try to see things from each other’s points of view we’ll become a better and stronger society for it. I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man living in the streets of Detroit….but he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a white man living in Appalachia either. However, if we’ll take the time to set our differences aside and have an intelligent, open-minded conversation about it, we can probably both become better men and live richer, fuller lives for knowing each other. If we keep trying to bash each other for our differences and waste our time and resources on a media driven distain for each other…mark my words…as a Nation we’re not going to survive the next civil war.
The United States is the greatest social experiment our species has ever known. But we’ll never reach our potential unless we learn to heed the intent of the Constitution, accept each other for who we are and learn to love each other regardless of our differences.
“Come on people now…Smile on your brother…Everybody get together…Try to love one another, Right now” — The Youngbloods (1967)
But….what do I know? I’m just a kid from the hollow with too many guns and an unhealthy love for dogs.