What I find disrespectful to our flag is when I see athletes draping the US flag over their sweating body, turning our flag into a sweat rag. I see that every Olympics but no one seems to be upset at that.
Why is that an acceptable way of "showing pride" but kneeling during a song is disrespectful?
If we are going to battle flag disrespect, lets go after the real offenders first.
I can, of course, only speak for myself, but as a 20 year military veteran who is still in service to our country as a civilian (pushing 35 years of total service) I am not offended nor do I feel disrespected at what some of the NFL players are doing.
To be honest, I feel a small amount of pride. My service to my country is to ensure that our citizens have the right to peaceably protest.
I am grateful that we live in a country where this is allowed even if I personally disagree with the protest or the manner of the protest.....actually especially if I disagree with the protest or the manner of the protest.
I would like to have every citizen choose to stand for our national anthem, but would fight against any attempt to force our citizens to do so.
Forcing citizens to mimic the actions of patriotism accomplishes nothing and is something I would expect to see in North Korea or Iran.
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abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.
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