Kneeling, Standing and Respect for the USA Flag.

This is a hot topic in the States right now and really for the last couple of years. The purpose of this isn’t to tell you what side is right or wrong or what side you should be on. I want to pose a question to hopefully be discussed. You can leave comments at the bottom of this and I hope you do!

I respect anyone that is a member of their countries armed forces. America no longer has a draft and how many of us are happy about that?!? I know my ass wasn’t trying to be in the military! No way lol. So it is automatic respect from me for volunteering to do something that I would not freely choose to do. When I was 18, all I wanted to do was play sports! College football was the only thing on my mind.

I also have a ton of respect for… the duty of a police officer. Being a police officer is hard! Much like the military, I’m not trying to do it! Look at the times. More people than ever in history HATE the police. It’s so crazy the times we are living in. Imagine for a second that you are a little boy with your parents and you go to a meet and greet with your local police officers. You look up to that officer. He or she is larger than life. They are HEROES. You grow up living a life wanting to be that and you become a police officer. You’ve done nothing but good your whole life. You’ve treated everyone fairly. You’ve done everything “the right way”. Now imagine you’re in uniform and you take your significant other out to lunch. You walk in and its all “ACAB” and the people just despise you. The same people you work so hard everyday to protect and keep as safe as possible.

I know a guy named Mike. I played varsity football with Mike in high school. In fact, he was my starting quarterback. This guy is one of the best people I know. Always has been. The way he carries himself, his actions and his treatment of others. He is also a police officer. To me, he is what I envisioned a police officer to be when I was a child. If Mike walked into a room and was instantly hated just because he was a cop it would break my heart. If Mike ever thought for one second that any protests were happening because he was in mind, it would break my heart. The fact of the matter is that everyone/everything is not bad. Every black person isn’t bad, but some are. Every cop isn’t bad, but some are. Every white person isn’t racist, but some are. Lastly, some people who were bad (ME!) can become good again. Just because you lost your way, doesn’t mean you’ve LOST your way. You can find it again, or even for the first time. Be receptive to change, especially positive change.

I, personally, have never been mistreated by the police. I’ve had numerous interactions with them, albeit not in a long time (Ya!💪🏾🙏🏾🙌🏾) and I was guilty!! However, just because that is MY experience does not mean that is everyone’s experience. I can see with my eyes and hear with my ears the violence, brutality, lack of morality, and injustice going on. So when you want to kneel for the flag because of your experience and your reality, I respect you. When you want to stand for the flag because of your experience and your reality, I respect you. I don’t find anything disrespectful about it because I UNDERSTAND you. Now understand me, I am more open minded and understanding because of my life experiences, which if you’ve been paying attention, have not exactly been average lol. Everyone is not like me and everyone is not like you. We all live our own lives with soooo many different life experiences it can be hard to understand someone else’s. We should try.

So! I pose a question. When it comes to respect for the flag. What exactly is disrespectful to you? And why? Please please leave a comment below and let’s have a discussion amongst us readers. I came across this flag code on twitter (follow me @Robdoesitall) and then looked it up on a .gov website to confirm it. I am guilty of reposting stuff without looking it up but so are you! Don’t lie! lol. First, I didn’t know like any of this stuff regarding the flag! Either I wasn’t taught this stuff in primary school or I wasn’t paying attention and between us, y’all being my close people and all, it could’ve been either/or 😬🙈 lol. What are your thoughts on the pictures below and the codes and how apparently we all do a lot of things that is “disrespecting” our flag and we don’t even know it. Kneeling technically violates a code but it’s also protected by free speech. So hmmm. What are your thoughts about all this “new” flag code information??