It's an Oh Say Can You See Thing

Dear America,

t-shirt material...

"YOU MATTER 

UNLESS YOU MULTIPLY YOURSELF

 BY THE SPEED OF LIGHT 

THEN YOU ENERGY"

now let's apply this to the nation, alongside what seems to be multiple orbits of agenda's and politics swirling around each other, oh so madly.

where does it end?  how does it end?

or is this just the way it is now -- the settled science according to the modern, although rather ignorant, world -- that we have reached an age when a patriotic co-existence without politics simply doesn't have a chance to breathe, let alone survive, in America? 

it's just so sad

the Pittsburgh Steelers attempted to simply stay out of it - deciding as a team to stay off the sidelines and remain in the locker room while the national anthem played; they chose not to make a stand either way.  Oh the irony, right?  For as they purposely placed themselves smack dab in the center -- may as well call it the fifty yard line -- lo and behold, Alejandro Villanueva, the Afghanistan Veteran, broke away from the huddle.  He just couldn't do it.  In a blink of an eye, he went out to the field and stood there all by himself.  The rest of the team didn't see it coming.

The result?  Instant political bombs bursting in air, with Tomlin and team becoming the topic of conversation, be it left, right or center.  Although the team wanted to stay neutral, out of the fray, at the end of the day, their actions proved the exact opposite reaction.

What did Coach Tomlin say?  "Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation [to not participate with the civic honor to cross our heart while the Star Spangled Banner played, in unison with an entire stadium of fellow patriots], we were gonna be respectful of our football team."

So they thought it made more sense to be disrespectful of decades of tradition  -- 

the one where two teams stand on the sidelines.... directly across the field from each other... while beginning the contest on certain, common ground... saluting the land of the free and the home of the brave -- the one that gave them all an opportunity of getting paid millions playing a game, no less.

So they thought it made more sense to be disrespectful of country -- 

Tomlin calculated that it would be wiser to choose to respect their football team, over the respect of the whole --  be it the stadium full of paying football season ticket holders, or all 300 million of us intrepidly attempting to co-exist within the boundaries of this nation and be patriotic at the same time.  wow

thing is -- Tomlin and team made a choice.  As much as there may be good reason to admire the team as they attempted to stay out of it; it is no surprise that hiding stands equally off-putting.

By choosing to stay in the locker room, they opted to take sides smack dab square with the side of political correctness; instead of rising above it all and coming out to the sidelines like a bunch of big boys, with a spirit of good sportsmanship, they put the football between their legs and huddled in the protection of each other and displayed a certain, offensive sense of arrogance against what is best for the country -- and more than that, what is best for the sport in which they play!

More than anything else, all this nonsense --  all this divisiveness being drummed up and now multiplied from one Sunday to the next -- is not being productive in any way, shape, or form.

And proving to be such a disservice, too, bearing in mind, that each of these players are uniquely positioned with the complete honor of influencing the next generation of impressionable minds -- whether future football players or not, our children are watching this!

And just to be clear -- Trump didn't make this issue political, like, yesterday.

It began being political the day Colin Kaepernick took a knee. Saying,“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”   [While under contract and making  11.6 million dollars in 2016; and bear in mind, it began over perceived police brutality against African-American men committing crimes, targeting the anthem to curry anti-police, and in turn anti-American, sentiment.]

To commentary from Sports Anchor Jim Brown:

“I’m going to give you the real deal. I’m an American. I don’t desecrate my flag and my national anthem. I’m not gonna do anything against the flag and the national anthem. … This is my country, and I’ll work out the problems, but I’ll do it in an intelligent manner.”

Here's a great post from Nate Jackson, at The Patriot Post.

Of course, President Trump may have become the antagonist-in-chief, interjecting into such a political football conversation....oh well, so be it.   Let it be, let it be; and may it be the kind of political muscle that breaks the growing, unconscionable, un-American trend, somehow, some way.

Antagonist:  1.  One who opposes and actively competes with another; adversary 2. Anatomy, A muscle that opposes another muscle.

Indeed. 

Nothing wrong with that, right?  This is pure nature against nature.

Sure, we all have a right to speak up -- even a president.  

If Colin has a right to speak his peace, then so does the president of the United States, as well as, all the rest of us in between.  The very ability for Trump to speak freely -- against the establishment, upon twitter, and all, no matter how ugly  -- was the precise reason he was elected president.

But make no mistake, this American anthem protest during the quintessential all-American game of football  -- by the sidelines, the taking of a knee, the staying in the locker room until its over --

is all about muscle meeting up with muscle.   

It's muscle opposing muscle kicked up to catatonic levels; pretty soon, nobody will be able to move freely; nobody will be able to just watch a little football, in peace, and eat an afternoon away with nachos and beers simply for the love of the game.  

The THING IS, these actions -- gaining steam in both directions faster than a two minute warning --  are pulling us, the body of all Americans, further and further apart.

And this will not end good if we continue on this trajectory.

Nobody wants politics in football.  Nobody.

These players who continue to protest such as they are will not only ruin the game, they will destroy the means of providing for their very own livelihood; nobody wants to pay to see this behavior. 

You've made your point; now let's see what true community activism can do; go back to being a football player, go back to being a mentor of strong character to those who look up to you, go back to being good sports, go back to standing up out of respect, because respect is just the proper way to go.

------------ x

Now -- here's a total reversal for you, according to the field of blog -- and it comes courtesy of an event attended over the weekend.

The local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution gathered together for an annual celebration of the signing of the Constitution.  At this event, the DAR requested proclamations from every entity from sea to shining sea, from local mayors all the way up to the president of the United States.  We must have received twenty or thirty of them. [And yes, the president wrote a beautiful two-page spread.]

But the real kicker came courtesy of our very own state of California, Governor Jerry Brown.

Multiple requests were denied.

Here's a guy -- who took an actual oath to uphold the Constitution -- showing just where his solidarity lies; and it's not standing, locked arm in arm, with the rest of us.  How sad is that?

He may as well have just sent us an instagram shot of him taking a knee.  

Politics used to be so fair, and way more fun; but when did the Constitution become political?

First the flag,

then commemorative statues,

and now the Constitution, Jerry?  E tu Brute Brown?

As more and more leftist activists -- and some actually in office --  claim to matter MORE than the rest of us and gaining at the speed of light, ultimately the whole of the nation will be unable to take the hits; pure momentum is growing in the favor of radicals, with the help of the mainstream leftist media and a multitude of leftist muscle proclaiming to be unarguably absolute, no need for debate -- no matter how un-American it  may look.  They don't care.  Any and all opposition may as well just take their ball and go home, according to the left.

Football was better when we were all on the same field, when we all mattered just being part of the one body known as Americans, when we all just came together in one place to root for our favorite team and still leave friends.

But this mess -- this mess was created by one football player, which led to another football player, and then another, and so on.  Football players continue to antagonize the issue each and every time they choose to take a knee.  As the cosmic laws of cause and effect multiply, only bad energy can come of it.  bad, bad energy.

They surely don't see it that way; but that doesn't mean it is any less true.  The coaches should have nipped this one in the budweiser a long, long time ago. [But what do I know, I'm just a girl..]

And besides -- speaking of me, teehee  --  this girl just may 'have mixed drinks about feelings,' but football is not designed to be a sport about people's feelings.  Players get hit!   Guys get hurt!  Even the stands might get a little ugly.  But at the end of the day, it is sport!  It is a bloody, ugly and brutal display of muscle -- pure force against another force.  Spectators yell and scream; players call each other names; and nobody leaves a stadium unaffected... 

...having all of that begin after a friendly singing of our Star Spangled Banner and a salute to the flag at least gave us the proper foundation before all hell broke loose, yes?

oh say can you see

what a mess that was made.

i pray, that it stops,

before we all go down...

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Make it a Good Day, G