Should we bend a knee or stand up?

Hi neighbors. There is a touch of cool in the air! I haven’t started the furnace yet; but it’s sounding like a better idea each evening. I suppose it shouldn’t be a big surprise since it happens every year. Still, I’m never quite ready to give up the 80 and 90 degree weather.

With cooler weather comes football. Most people enjoy a family gathering in front of the television or an outing to a huge stadium packed with fellow fans to watch their favorite team play this popular game. Football has rules, and football attendees have traditions: one tradition is standing for the National Anthem.

It seems some players have decided to protest the National Anthem. What?

When asked about it, one said it was because the anthem was propaganda for all the “bad things” America does.

Well, like everyone else in America, he has a right to free speech, to demonstrate his cause and to argue his politics. However, I don’t think anyone in the stands paid big bucks for a ticket to listen to his protests — or to see him demonstrate his beliefs.

If he worked at a drive through and decided he didn’t want to serve hamburgers because he had a “beef” against American cattle growers; he would be out the door in nothing flat. Of course, had he shown his political bent at the interview for employment he never would have been hired.

Basically, if you are paid to do one job, you don’t use that job for a platform to show off your private feelings. Freedom of speech? Sure, rent a hall, buy a soapbox, stand on the street corner, etc. Don’t force people who didn’t want to hear or see your beliefs and who certainly didn’t want to spend money to do so, to participate or witness your abuse of a public space. The football field is not a public forum for personal demonstrations that have nothing to do with the game.

But maybe it DOES have a lot to do with public protocol about flag display and the National Anthem.

We are a capitalist country, as well as a free one. If football players can use the field for personal and political speeches and displays of disrespect to America, we, the rest of the people, can nip this in the bud. Don’t buy tickets when this team plays! Other teams will soon refuse to play against them, and the organizations that pay their wages will drop them from the lineup.

If many other players refuse to obey the common laws of respect for the National Anthem, the flag, and the country; let them remain in the locker rooms until the clock says it’s time to play. If they want to speak to the public, they can do it as average citizens, not as celebrity sports personalities, while doing the job they are paid so highly to do.

If public displays of disrespect for flag and country mean nothing to you, then maybe you should think more deeply about what this type of behavior really says.

One football player was the reason the word “Tebowing” came into use. He assumed the bent knee position while in prayer on the sidelines, but not while the audience was standing for the national anthem. This behavior did draw attention to himself and away from the team as a whole.

Perhaps some people don’t understand the symbolism of “bending a knee” or of standing. Bending a knee has always been a symbol of showing submission to a stronger force — as a student to a teacher, or church member to a church official. “Bending a knee” while hurling insults, seems to send a mixed message.

Standing is done to show respect; as in standing while the bride walks by, standing when someone of a higher degree enters the room, like when an officer enters a room of privates in the Army. Or, for instance, when the flag is carried past you, or when the national anthem is played.

Until the next time friends remember that everyone has a right to their opinion and the right of free speech to voice that opinion. But most agree, neither of the above rights should be touted on someone else’s time and definitely not on an expensive football ticket purchased for love of the game!