Don’t ever let anyone tell you one person can’t inspire others to act. The challenge, however, is in the outcome, and will it be good or bad.
Loser quarterback Colin Kaepernick probably still thinks, when he sat during the National Anthem, that his defiant act was doing good. What he started, however, was a movement that essentially spits in the face of all who have served or are serving our great country.
Other athletes, coaches, and fans have joined in the “fun” of dishonoring of our National Anthem. Proving over and again how stupid college makes you, it seems a squad of cheerleaders at Brown University have decided to take a knee against what they perceive is widespread racism.
And now, ironically, this terrible act has actually found itself participants currently serving in the military.
A sailor with the Navy Reserve is in hot water after taking a page out of Colin Kaepernick’s playbook.
Janaye Ervin, an intelligence specialist, declined to stand and did not salute during the national anthem played at a morning flag-raising at Pearl Harbor on Sept. 19.
“I feel like a hypocrite singing about the ‘land of the free’ when I know that only applies to some Americans,” she wrote on Facebook, according to Military.com. “I will gladly stand again, when ALL AMERICANS are afforded the same freedom.”
Kaepernick, the 49ers quarterback, has refused to stand for the anthem before NFL games this year. He cited racial injustice and police brutality among the reasons for his actions.
“I have been proudly serving in the US Navy Reserve Force since November 2008,” she wrote on Facebook earlier this month, according to the military news website. “I have pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and to spread freedom and democracy around the world. I will never waver from that pledge.”
“The Navy has decided to punish me for defending the Constitution and has taken away my equipment I need to do my Naval job,” she wrote, according to Military.com. “It was my pleasure serving my country, I love it dearly, that is why I must do this for you. I will keep you all posted on what happens next!”
I love my country and my countrymen, but there are some intellectually and morally stupid people in the United States.
One of the worst things we can do to ourselves is avoid taking responsibility for our actions; victimhood is one of the greatest progenitors of bad things. Note that last quote where Ervin says the Navy is keeping her from defending the Constitution – as if she was just walking down the street one day, minding her own business, when suddenly the top Navy brass selected her for discharge (I assume she was discharged, judging from her use of the past tense — “it was my pleasure serving…”). Let’s hope she was awarded a Dishonorable or Other Than Honorable for her disgraceful stunt.
No doubt the military will see to it that our servicemen and women who do not honor the Flag and our National Anthem will be dealt with swiftly and harshly, as they should, but if this line of thinking seeps throughout our armed forces, what kind of battlefield motivation do you think we’ll have when the excrement hits the fan?
Image: Screen shot; http://foxrochester.com/news/nation-world/high-school-cheerleaders-in-nashville-take-knee-during-national-anthem-at-game
