My flag, my country, my choice.

As a child, I was taught to stand facing the flag, say some words that I did not understand that was called a pledge, and stay still as a song about a battle was performed.

These actions became a group norm and then a personal habit. It is what we do.

When I’m at an event and the national anthem begins to play, I watch everyone follow the group norm and stand. It is a habit that we have all had ingrained in us. It is what we do.

But why do we do it?

When Colin Kaepernick broke with the group norm and kneeled for the national anthem, he outraged many people, but more importantly, he started many conversations. From these conversations, I have learned about the other verses in the National Anthem and about the War of 1812 which is when the lyrics were written, and how it ties to slavery.

Now when I stand for the National Anthem, as I was taught to do, I wonder if I should stand, why I am standing, and what meaning does this habit have for me?

It is not enough to act patriotic, especially if that act is a habit that was simply ingrained in you. If I am going to stand in a patriotic act, I want to know what that means to me.

Thanks to the conversations about what it means to stand for the national anthem, I started searching for my own patriotic meaning. I now know what I stand for. When I stand for the flag, I stand for the pride in the progress of this great nation. I stand for the strength of those working to make this country a better union. And I stand for hope for a better future.

But this country has many faults and that is why people are kneeling. If I chose to kneel it would be because of my genuine disappointment in the hatred, bigotry, racism, and theft of democracy that I have witnessed in this country. If I had a national platform such an act might make people begin to talk about where this country has failed. Getting people to talk is patriotic. Standing for the flag out of habit and tradition is juvenile. Getting upset with people for not following tradition is authoritarian. Not listening to the conversations that the protests have started is close-minded and does not lead to a better future and is therefore unpatriotic.

The American Flag is my flag representing my country and my choice is to stand. But it is also the flag of many other patriotic people who are part of this country and I respect and honor their choice to kneel.

God, please bless America. Land of the free. Home of the brave.