Recently, some NFL players are sitting during the national anthem, leading other American citizens to follow in their footsteps and it is one of the most disrespectful acts I've ever seen. Not standing during the national anthem illustrates disrespect, ignorance, and is just overall rude. We live in the greatest countries in the world and everyone here is incredibly privileged for the amazing, life changing opportunities that we all have. Because of the hundreds of years of history and struggle our nations' founders went through for us to be the best nation in the world, the least that one can do is stand up during the national anthem.
The NFL player who was most famous for this was Brandon Marshall of the Denver Broncs. At the start of the Denver versus South Carolina game, Marshall took a knee rather than standing during the national anthem as a protest for the racial injustice in America. What he did was admirable, but disrespectful.
After seeing that, Benjamin Watson of the Baltimore Ravens had something he wanted to say. He refused to sit when he said, "I stand, because this mixed bag of evil and good is MY home. And because it’s MY home my standing is a pledge to continue the fight against all injustice and preserve the greatest attributes of the country, including Colin Kaepernick’s right to kneel." Waston then went on to say, "Conflict when handled correctly strengthens. Conflict when mismanaged destroys."
Watson is right; our nation is a mix of good and evil. But the way we react to both the good and the bad speaks volumes. Standing up for what you believe in is admirable, but disrespecting our nation as a whole takes things too far. Everything that has happened in our nation's history, both good and bad, has made us the nation that we are today. We have and still are learning from our mistakes and trying to correct those mistakes as best as we can. We are making the best efforts possible to heal and move on and disrespecting our nation does not help, rather it deepens these tensions. The protest that Marshall did was completely disrespectful and if he continues, he's not helping anyone and making the healing process much harder.
