From a Veteran

On Tumblr kateordie reblogged something that was originally posted by weavemama that said (in all caps) “Black people don’t owe the National Anthem shit”. I didn’t hesitate to unfollow kateordie, but this stuck in my head for a few hours. I unfollowed because that seemed to be a very ignorant statement to reblog, and I’m not  a fan of this recent rash of turning the disrespect one football player shows into an actual racial movements dialog.

If you check out the blog of the person that originally posted it, she is a 15 year old Black Lives Matter supporter. Being 15 tells me she isn’t going to be old enough to have well-formed and/or thought out opinions. Typically at 15, you only regurgitate the opinions you hear from parents and teachers and older people around you. Being one of the BLM supporters, I knew that she would not be able to respond well to criticism, logic or hold up in a mature debate.

She is partially right, though. Black people don’t owe anyone anything. Neither does any other group of people. I joined the military right out of high school, partly to show pride in my country, but also to have a steady paycheck. I learned at an early age to have respect for my country and for the ideals that formed this country. Every male member of my family, as far back as we can trace after coming to this country, served in the military and most went into law-enforcement after.

Standing up during the National Anthem is about respect and honor. You have respect for the Anthem because you have self-respect. You show respect for the military members that died so that you can have the freedom to spew out whatever ignorant, malformed thought that comes out of your tiny little brain. You honor those military members memory and their family’s loss. You show that you honor the sacrifices made so that you didn’t have to make that sacrifice. You stand up during the National Anthem because your sorry ass needs to be grateful that you have freedoms others don’t have. You need to stand your sorry ass up because you live in country where you get paid millions of dollars to play a game.

Do you want to protest the breakdown of the Justice system? Go to law school, become a lawyer and work on the changes you want to see. You want to protest the violence of police against the citizenry? Become a police officer, get a badge, patrol your neighborhood and make the changes you want to see.

You want to do nothing but sit on your ass and call it a protest? You want to do nothing but complain and call it a movement? You want to post irrelevant shit on your Twitter, Tumblr and FaceBook and call yourself an activist? That’s fine too. You do that, but you also stand your sorry ass up when the National Anthem plays. The people who sacrificed so you could be a piece of shit deserve that much.