To kneel or not to kneel...

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Respect as a verb is defined as showing esteem or consideration or abstaining from interference.  As a noun, it’s about having reverence for the distinction of a person or for qualities or abilities that person may hold.  It’s also regarding a right or privilege of someone or even something that is looked upon as having certain rights or privileges attached to it.  Disrespect as a noun is characterized as having a lack of what is defined above as respect or showing discourtesy or rudeness.  As a verb, it simply means to withhold the above-defined “respect” or treat with contempt or rudeness.

I’ve read and heard a lot of commentary around people feeling personally disrespected or feeling as if their country, military, or flag are being disrespected.  Particularly, I’m talking about players kneeling during the National Anthem.  I have given a lot of thought to the topic to try to understand why some people are really upset.  It can be a struggle to try to understand another person’s perspective when you don’t their view, but I do try.

That said, here’s where I’m coming from on this subject.  It is my belief our founding fathers did not wish for us to hold nationalistic ideals, meaning we shouldn’t be forced to stand for an anthem or recite the pledge of allegiance if we didn’t want to for our own reasons, including those relating to beliefs, religion, or disagreement in how our government is operating.  The Supreme Court backed up this school of thought in 1943 in the case of WestVirginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, believing it violated the Fourteenth Amendment.  The First Amendment is also relevant in this situation as well.  Our country is supposed to be a nation of freedom, and to make people love and support their government, even when they disagree with it, is akin to what happened in Nazi Germany.

Regardless of what the Supreme Court ruled over seventy years ago, there are still people who disagree with those that do not stand for the anthem.  As I pointed out above, we should be allowed to have freedom of opinions.  The Supreme Court also decided abortion should be legal, but many people personally do not feel this way and thus Roe v. Wade has continued to be a hot button topic.  We all have our opinions and beliefs, and continue to have them.  Where it becomes a problem is when we stop listening to each other and force our own opinions and beliefs onto others.  We don’t always have to agree, but I feel we should always be open-minded and listen.

Aside from the court perspective, there’s the personal side of it as well.  I’d like to ask the people that disagree with players kneeling or people not standing for the anthem if they understand why people have chosen to do so.  Have you set aside how you feel about it personally to listen to what they have to say?  What’s happening is a peaceful way of protesting how our country doesn’t treat people equally, or with the same respect given to others.  Respect … there’s that word again.  Personally, I don’t feel it is disrespectful to kneel during the anthem, especially when you feel you are being disrespected in our nation and cannot support an anthem that pledges equality when clearly equality has never been prevalent.

I’m not standing on a soapbox preaching that you should be okay with players kneeling or people making a personal choice not to stand.  You have every right to feel the way you do.  What I am saying is to try to hear the other side and understand what they may be feeling.  You think it’s disrespectful and they feel disrespected.  Somewhere we need to come to a common ground and agree to disagree.  Even better, if we get to the root of the problem and work on solving that – equality and respect across the board regardless of race – this whole idea of who is standing or kneeling for the national anthem won’t be such a big issue.  Once we get to a place where most everyone feels they have the same voice and rights, I’m sure you’ll find them proudly standing in support of our national anthem.  However, my last caveat to that statement is to understand that we all have a choice, and wrong or right or whether you agree or disagree, people can choose to do what they wish during the anthem.  Kneeling or sitting included.