Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave for the land of the free and the home of the brave? Men and women leave their homes every single day. They go over to enemy territory to protect every individual citizen, whether they appreciate it or not. Recently the news has been filled with NFL players refusing to stand for the National Anthem, causing others to follow their example. According to Forbes the average NFL player makes $1.9 million per year. This is the amount they make for taking hits from linebackers. Do we even need to compare this to taking hits from bullets? When you are enjoying your football Sunday night, there are soldiers risking their lives. There is one thing everyone should be using their first amendment right to say. To all of you NFL players who take a knee during the National Anthem: Stand up.

You may say that you are taking a stand for black lives matter when really you are taking a stand against the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for all lives to matter. Until you serve your country, how dare you disrespect. Men and women are leaving their families, sacrificing their lives, and making the ultimate sacrifice for you to have your first amendment right every day. How dare you use your first amendment to disrespect these individuals. When you stand for the national anthem, you are not standing for police brutality or all of the things wrong in this country. You are standing to honor everything that is right in this country. Every single soldier has a name. Every one has a family, has a story. Every soldier gave up part of their life so that you didn't have to. I'm sure it is easy to take a knee on the sidelines of an NFL game and say that you are standing for something bigger. No, you are standing for every problem in America. America may have a lot of problems, but if there is one thing we have is pride in our country and our troops. If we don't have that, then what do we have?

I am going to be completely blunt in saying that if you disrespect the National Anthem you disgust me. People died on a battlefield to allow you the freedom to stand before that flag. Until you have played the National Anthem for a room of retired military veterans and watched every eye in the room be flooded with tears, you don't know country. Until you have watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you don't know honor. Until you have watched love ones leave their family, you don't know selflessness. Until you are given a folded flag, you don't know sacrifice. These are the true American heroes. In America this should mean something. Throwing a football does not make you a hero, and sitting down during the National Anthem definitely doesn't make you honorable. When the Star Spangled Banner plays, you better stand and respect what it means to be an American or go to foreign lands and defend America yourself. NFL players, learn what it is that you are really standing for. Stand up. Because you are no hero