Colin Kaepernick, formerly QB of the San Francisco Forty-Niners sits during the playing of the National Anthem, while a Marine Veteran and purple heart recipient stands tall despite his apparent injuries.

                      These are the images of two very different individuals. One understands the value of freedom and the other clearly does not. One has been given a homeland, where he is free to speak, think, and act how he wishes, without the undue interference of any totalitarian authority. The other earned that privledge. One man goes day to day unconscious  of the organized efforts of hundreds of thousands of men and women everyday who work to preserve those freedoms which he so blatantly takes for granted. The other man lives a life haunted by the constant presence of that prainful price, which makes America "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

                      The world we live in is soft. Our generation is one that understands nothing of earning and all of taking. Colin Kaepernick is a perfect example. 

                       The popularity and publicity of sports stars provides them with a perfect base for advancing agendas, whether they be social, political, humanitarian, etc. An excellent example of this, as I am sure most of us are aware, are the ongoing efforts of J.J. Watt, who has raised over 37 million dollars to date for the relief of the victims of Hurricane Harvey. However, as inspiring as this may be, there are some who abuse their social status, and divide the country with their twisted and warped ideas.

                    In 2016 Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem. When asked about the gesture, he justified his actions siting institutional racism within our police forces which targeted specifically African-Americans, but more generally, the lack of social equality in the United States today. 

                    To begin I would like to say that I have no problems with sports stars using their first amendment rights. However,negatively targeting the American flag and the National Anthem is cowardly, for it is by this very same flag and anthem that the right for you to speak thus was earned. And please pay very close attention to the fact that this is earned, men and women die everyday to protect this freedom. The man in the picture above lost his legs for it. What has Colin Kaepernick done to earn his freedom. What have you and I done? We have done nothing. We are free-loaders on the American bandwagon of freedom. What right do we have to insult it. 

                   Some say kneeling is not meant to insult any flag or military people, but then why do you do it during the National Anthem then? What else are you trying to say. If you attack what I believe in then you necessarily attack me as well. Of, course the military people are offended, you attacked the principles the trained and fought under. It is despicable. This is why Alejandro Villanueva came out of the Steelers locker room and stood alone without his team in respect of the national anthem. As a military veteran himself, there was no way he would disrespect those whom he served with.

                  So to summarize so far, I believe the venue and formatting of Kaepernicks protest is inappropriate. Sports is a part of our lives we should be able to escape to. It is a relief of all the drama from our real lives. However, Kaepernick has destroyed that.

                  One of our countries greatest problems right now is the lack of grey area between the two ideologies of hard-core liberals and hard-core conservatives. The problem with the media and society in general is they paint every issue as so black and white when, in reality things are more complicated. In this case, you Kaepernick had clearly drawn a line in the sand which everyone who sits on an NFL sideline must choose. Your either with him in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and condemning police brutality or you stand and you are obviously a white supremacist.

However, this is not the issue at all. There is a whole range of opinions in the middle. Here is mine.

                 White Supremacist are racist and are evil people. However, Black Lives Matter, and Kaepernick, would have you believe that our police force as a whole are white supremacist. They claim proof for this on the incidents of white police shooting black people. The problem with this is that it is a part-to-whole fallacy. For anyone who does not know what that means, among the rules of logic one cannot prove that a law or trait is characteristic to all those in a group merely because a select few have displayed that trait. I will stand today and fight any white supremacist and condemn their actions. But I also refuse to stand with the pillaging, destructive, disrespectful, and out of control mobs that make up Black Lives Matter and condemn the valiant men and women who defend our country on the inside. Honestly, we have multiple police men and women on campus. If the police are a racist institution, shouldn't at least one of them be a racist. Who wants to go burn and pillage their cop cars? Nobody does. That's because the Black Lives Matter movement is just as out of control as the white supremacist. They are hateful people. They obviously have no respect for the country or those people who protect it with their lives. Their message is not one of love but of hate and achieving a sort of revenge. If their story was honestly just one of love and equality, every player would kneel, but they don't. 

                Instead they stand in unity for the principles that define our nation, a nation which always seeks to improve itself, but which I believe is currently shaming itself at the expense of good men and women who risk their lives to protect us everyday, both at home and abroad. Today I applaud their efforts, as they are sadly being met with such shameful ingratitude.