Attending a military college in the mountains of North Georgia has given me a new respect for our nation’s military and new sense of national pride. I look at things differently now and wish that everyone could experience attending a military college. As one of the senior military colleges in the United States, the University of North Georgia is rich in tradition. One that stands out is reveille and retreat. Each day our corps of cadets raises and lowers the flag as well as plays taps at midnight. This tradition has given me such pride in our nation’s flag that I stop whatever I’m doing everyday at 5:00 pm and face the lowering of the flag as retreat plays and the cannon is fired. This is our way of showing respect to our nation and the men and women who have fought to defend our rights and freedoms.

Many of you know that Colin Kaepernick has been in the news lately with his actions of sitting during the playing of the National Anthem. Kaepernick told nfl.com, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." While I respect Kaepernick’s right to protest and freedom of speech as afforded to him through our Constitution, I feel that he is disrespecting so many others by choosing to protest in this way.

Kaepernick has caught plenty of heat for his protest and many are calling for him to give it a rest especially since the NFL is playing on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. I personally feel that Kaepernick should have chosen a different way to protest. He could have done something similar to NBA players at the ESPYs or something that was less disrespectful. The flag that he refuses to stand and respect represents America’s past. Not only is he disrespecting our military men and women, but also he’s disrespecting much more than that. The flag represents those that fought for freedom from the British, it represents those that fought for freedom from slavery during the civil war, it represents those that survived and kept this country alive during the Great Depression, it represents those that fought for civil rights and endured racism during the 20^th century and it represents those that spend their lives defending our freedom as First responders and our Military personnel. Am I saying that racism doesn’t exist? No, racism occurs, as does every other sort of discrimination in the world.

What Kaepernick’s actions have done is get people talking, but conversation without action doesn’t help anyone. Although I dislike the way that Kaepernick chose to bring attention to this matter in our country, I respect his freedom to do so. His career and reputation will surely suffer from this and I wish him the best of luck in what is to come. What I do hope for him and the rest of the American people is that we stand in solidarity, respect our nation, flag and each other, all while fighting together for the greater good of our communities, nation and world.