This isn’t a political statement, so please don’t react to it as such.
In today’s negative climate, I think we’re too quick to assume that a person’s out-of-the-ordinary action is intended to be an insult to us personally. Take kneeling at the National Anthem, for example.
I don’t pretend to know the motivation of each person doing that, but I do know why some people kneel. They look at kneeling from its historical perspective: showing respect (as to a king or queen); showing devotion, esteem, or reverence (God); as a form of supplication ( God, marriage proposal, begging); mourning, sadness, vulnerability. If this is a person’s motivation, what’s wrong with it? Is it okay to kneel before our flag to show it honor and respect? To kneel during the National Anthem to show sadness at perceived wrongs going on in our country? Possibly even to kneel in silent prayer for the good of our country and its people?
To some people, could kneeling, especially with a hand over the heart and bare heads, actually be positive?
Maybe we’d be better off fighting the true evils that divide us rather than reading people’s minds and attacking them for actions that express what they’re feeling while doing no harm to anyone.
