It's almost Labor Day and that means summer is nearly gone.Time to get back to school.Time for football season to start.Time to write about-what else,education and football.
Say what you will about Colin Kaepernick,he has a conscience.He uses his position to speak his mind,on behalf of people who lack that ability.Colin Kaepernick is the backup quarterback for the San Francisco Forty Niners and,this season he has been sitting as the National Anthem was being played prior to team games.He says it's in protest of living in a country that discriminates on the basis of race,that oppresses black people.Let's be clear,Colin Kaepernick has the right,as do all Americans to express opinions others may find offensive.He is not insulting the Military,or the powers that be,or the establishment,or people of any identifiable race.He is stating a strongly held,which may cost him,as conscientious views often do.And he is willing to take a stand.Far better than saying nothing,because,in case you haven't noticed,America is deeply dysfunctional.So,when a professional athlete takes his position of role model seriously,he is to be commended,not vilified.
Colin Kaepernick is not the first football player to take a stand.The late,great Reggie White took a stand for Christ.His onetime team mate with the Philadelphia Eagles once took a stand against the KKK.Ricky Williams took a stand too,of sorts.He decided to stand for marijuana,rather than football.Taking a stand is not all that unusual.
Perhaps the most memorable stand taken by a pro football player was that taken a few years ago by Pat Tillman.Pat Tillman was a defensive back with the Arizona Cardinals.Following the 9/11 attacks,he decided that he could not in good faith continue to play football while others went overseas to fight The War On Terror.So he enlisted and was sent to Iraq,where he made the supreme sacrifice.And I honor that sacrifice.He's the only pro football player that I'm aware of who lived out his belief to the point of dying for it.Pat Tillman joined a long list of Americans who fought and died to defend the rights of Colin Kaepernick to take his stand.
Kaepernick's stand is a bit different from Pat Tillman's.But if Tillman's actions are to be fully appreciated,and not wasted,we have to accept Kaepernick's actions as well.Otherwise,sacrifice is meaningless.I believe,Colin Kaepernick loves his country. I've never heard him say otherwise despite his not standing at attention for the National Anthem.He is on record as saying there is a particular aspect of society that he does not wish to honor,and whether you agree that such is the case in America today,or differ with him on how to deal with that reality,he should not honor that which is wrong.So Colin Kaepernick is trying to be part of the solution.I can't say I would have approached this issue in the same way.And I equally believe that those who choose to demonstrate their patriotism by standing,hand over heart when The National Anthem is being played,love their country.But,if you love your country,you need to encourage it to be the very best that it can be.Is that not what Colin Kaepernick is doing?
blyndpapaya
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