Respect for Our Flag and Our National Anthem

There was a time when a person attending a sporting event stood with respect when the National Anthem was played prior to the beginning of a ball game.  I remember attending high school football games when my grandkids were members of a large marching band.  The band did their pregame routine and then we were all invited to stand, remove our caps, and join in the singing as the band so elegantly played our National Anthem.  Even those of us who could not sing joined in with hands held over our hearts.  This was in reverence and respect for our flag and for our country. 


Then, in late summer, one member of the San Francisco 49er's football team, decided that he would protest what he viewed as discriminatory policies by our governmental leaders by not standing for the playing of our National Anthem.  The next week he not only did not stand, but he knelt down as it was played. Soon other players from other teams were joining in this protest; a few even raised the "black power fist" as the Anthem was being played. 


Unfortunately, their example is now being emulated by college and high school players across the country.  And this past week, several members of the East Carolina University Marching Pirate Band refused to play our Anthem and knelt when it was played.  Later University leaders, in answer to the outcry against such demonstrations, replied that, although the University respected the rights of students to declare their beliefs, using a Saturday afternoon college football game was not a proper place to demonstrate those beliefs.  They promised that it would not happen again.


I ask myself this question: Exactly what are these individuals protesting?  Many do not know why, they are just going along with the crowd.  There is a very interesting verse in Acts 19 which seems to apply to the situation of many today.  The context of the passage is the unrest in Ephesus over Paul's proclamation of Jesus Christ.  So many people are being impacted by the Gospel that the merchants who made a profit off the sale of merchandize of the goddess Diana or Artemis were concerned that they would lose customers.  So a riot ensued.  But here is what Luke records: "The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another.  Most of the people did not even know why they were there" (Acts 19:32).  If you were to ask those members of the East Carolina University Marching Band why they were protesting, I am pretty confident that they could not give you an answer.  They are simply caught up in the moment. 


So, what started this showing disrespect toward our flag and our National Anthem?  Mr. Kaepernick, the 49er football player who initiated it, said that he was trying to show how much injustice there was in our country toward black people.  And, what promoted this demonstration?  The seeming increase in the number of black youths who have been shot by white policemen.  "Black Lives Matter" - yes they do, but not just when a black teenager is shot by a white police officer.  "Black Lives Matter" every day in our nation's cities.  "Black Lives Matter" in Chicago where daily blacks kill other blacks with a violence that almost seems unabated.  But I don't see a huge outcry when those innocent lives are taken - a mother walking her baby down the streets in a stroller, a teenager just sitting on the porch of her house, another teenager just walking down the street to a store.  Do not these "black lives matter" as well? 


And what of those homes in our nation's cities where children grow up without a father.  Mom is stressed to the point of breaking as she seeks to manage her children, a job, and a home.  Do not those "black lives matter?"  Those children hunger for male leadership and find that substitute for a father within the gang.  And the rest of the story is a tragedy that is repeated far too often.  Do not those lives matter?


Is there injustice in America today?  Yes, there is.  But, is showing disrespect to our flag and our National Anthem to way to correct that injustice?  Absolutely not!  That flag and that Anthem represent what so many others have fought and died for.  My own father served in the Army Air Corps in World War 2.  My uncle served in the Army during the Korean War.  I had friends from high school and college who served in Vietnam, several of whom did not return.  As I stand at attention with hand-over-heart as the National Anthem is played, it is a sign of respect for those who have made our country what it is.  I believe that our flag and our National Anthem should not be instruments of protest.  You may march in front of police stations.  You may demonstrate in front of court houses.  You can even block major highways.  But show respect for our flag and our National Anthem. 


Perhaps we lack respect because our children do not grow up reciting the Pledge to the Flag everyday.  "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  Perhaps it is good for all of us to recite this from time to time so we remember. 


As I close I want to wish my Jewish friends a "shana tova" as you enter into a new year 5777.  May this be a year of special blessings from God to you and your household.