Taking a Knee--Moving Forward

Once more with the NFL and this kneeling business.  Many could just remain disgruntled and tuned out, but I think it’s time to move forward.  Here’s my proposal in two parts.

Part I – Game Day

The announcer begins:  Ladies and Gentlemen, please be silent for a minute for prayer, meditation, or deliberation upon those blessings and issues that we face in America.

--Note:  Americans are not good with silence.  The first time this was done, it would have to be about 25 seconds.  The next time 30.  The next 35 and so forth until finally a full minute was given to this.  During this time, fans, coaches, players, and vendors could stand, sit, kneel or whatever they needed to do while considering others  around them in this short time that was set aside.  This is a time of silence not showtime or political activism.  At the end of this time, the announces would say.

The announcer continues:  We ask that all stand and face the American flag—the symbol of this great nation in which we enjoy the blessings of liberty and have the best chance of resolving all that afflicts us.

The national anthem is played, the game kicks off, and people who feel alienated by the disrespect to our National Ensign might once again return to the NFL.  Now, anyone who took a knee or raised a fist during the time to render respect to our flag and what it stands for would be saying, “It’s all about me.”

Part II – Working on Issues

The players who believe they have something of value to say, need to say it.  I suggest a website and a few commercials sponsored by these players.  These promulgations begin with a letter of apology.

We who have taken a knee these past few months seek your forgiveness.  We had our reasons, but we did not exercise wisdom.  We want you to enjoy professional football once again and we want to perform our best for you.

We acted rashly in our decisions to take a knee.  We had what we felt were legitimate reasons, but we did not account for those that would be disrespected.  We do not want to disrespect our service men and women who stand in the gap to preserve the very freedom that we exercise.  We do not want to alienate any American who loves this nation so dearly that such acts could not be viewed as anything but disrespectful.

But, and this is a big one here, we needed to and still need to get people’s attention.  We need help addressing our nation’s problems. Taking a knee angered many and mobilized few in helping anyone.  We want to keep your attention, enlist your assistance, and be as patriotic as those whom we have angered.

So, from now on, we will stand for the flag and ask your help to make this nation realize all the ideals which it represents.  We are blessed to live in a nation where we the people can be a part of the solutions to some very serious problems.

Please forgive us.  Please help us.  Please don’t forget the issues because we have chosen a course of wisdom over disdain.  And please accept our sincere apology.

I am tired of division, divisiveness, and cowardice in this nation; however, I am hopeful that we can move forward and not be entrenched in these positions.

Young boys taking a knee during the National Anthem

I went to the last high school game of the season and was happy to see everyone being respectful.  Early this season, every player had run onto the field with an American Flag held high.

But at this last game,  a few young boys off by themselves took a knee.  They were too young to understand what they were doing, but they had surely seen this on television.

Much like when I was young, boys kicked their leg high because that’s the way Juan Marichel did it or held their bat high over their back shoulder because that’s the way Carl Yastrzemski did it; these boys did what they had seen professional players do.

No message was attached to their kneeling.  They had simply done what they had seen on television.  Most learned how to show respect for the flag from those around them.  Now they learned how to disrespect it from people on television.

The children learned only disrespect.  They do pay attention to our actions.  They are prone to emulate.  Is it the desire of NFL players to produce a generation of discontent?  Is divisiveness the new norm for celebrities?  Is it their goal for our nation?

Every parent knows that actions speak louder than words.  Most of what these children know are the actions they have seen.  Parents, scout masters, and even classroom teachers show children the right way.  It only takes a celebrity miscalculating the cost of an action to set back the values that so many hard-working people have given their time to instill.

You could call this the law of unintended consequences or just selfishness, but it needs to change.  To the one who is given much, much is expected.

There is no targeting foul in politics

I am taking off my pastor hat for just a moment and putting on my training and consulting hat.  Yes, I know they overlap sometimes.

Why am I doing this?

I want to talk about this not standing for the flag business.  Peaceful protest in a free society is the hallmark of many of our advances.  Many I know well have fought to preserve that freedom.  Many gave the full measure of devotion.

Freedom is fantastic.  Enjoying freedom in our nation even more so!

I want to share something that the Apostle Paul said about freedom.  OK, I never really take my pastor’s hat all the way off… 

Paul said that he may do anything, but not everything is profitable.

I am free to do all things, but not everything is beneficial.

Which brings us to one of my favorite words:  Efficacy.

Efficacy is the power to effect desired change.  Self-efficacy is about making change in ourselves.

Efficacy is what enables you to lose weight, stop smoking, study more, correct performance errors.  Efficacy is what is required to raise your batting average from .225 to .275.

Efficacy is why some companies succeed and others fade away.  Efficacy is why some sports teams adapt and overcome and others wish they made the play-offs.

Efficacy is why some national and international issues get resolved and others linger.

Efficacy was a word that I used over and over again with inmate clients.  What is your goal.  To never come back to this place again.

I agreed that one belonged at or near the top of every list.

Then, something would happen.  A piece of property was confiscated.  Someone cut in the chow line (yes, I’m still talking prison not 1^st grade), or some other thing that in the context of getting and staying out of prison made little difference.

But inmates went to extremes to call attention to the injustice of having an unauthorized item of electronics confiscated often at the extent of internal sanctions.  When the inmate came back for counseling, I asked, “Did that outburst get you any closer to your goal?”

Words were not necessary.

So let’s jump to the NFL and players taking a knee.  Does it get them any closer to their goal?

Unless their goal is to alienate about 95% of the people in this country—most of whom love the peaceful protest as a right few around the world enjoy like we do, the answer is no.  I am not really sure what the goal was, if there was one when all of this knee-taking started.  I’ve heard race relations, police relations, and even cop hating. 

If all you do is upset most of the people who love America, how can you get anything accomplished other than making whatever problem you think you are bringing to light move farther and farther into the background while the focus narrows to the act of protest itself.

Prostests and protestors seldom are logical when they get going, but this one has been going on for a while and none of the protestors are doing the wise thing.

What’s that?

Clarifying their message.  What is their message.

Here’s something they might want to try.  It is within the domain of efficacy—the power to effect desire change.

Take something that most of us don’t have—a lot of money, and put some of it towards a coherent message.  Take some of it to start programs to help fix the problems.

I know some of the knee takers have made token investments.  If these causes were important enough to tick off most of the nation, support them with real investment.

While you are at it, stand for the National Anthem.  You are going to need those people that you anger every week if you really want something fixed in this country.

So you are angry that President Trump called you out on this.  Here’s the deal:  When you step onto the playing field of politics—and that’s what you did when you took a knee during the National Anthem—there are no refs to protect you. 

You think that you hit hard in the NFL.  You guys are wimps compared to playing on the field of politics.  That stuff is for real.

You can’t run with the ball and then call for a fair catch in politics. 

You wouldn’t let junior high kids play against an NFL team.  The kids would get hurt.  So why think that you can play politics with the big boys and not get laid out on occasion.  There is no targeting foul in politics.

You played with the big boys.  It hurt.  Stop crying foul where there is none.

Do I think that many of these players taking a knee have something to say about real problems in our nation?  Yes, I think that they do.

I also think that practicing efficacy will get them closer to what they want to accomplish, much more so than seeking to draw attention to themselves.

Which is more important:  Calling attention to me or garnering support for solutions to things that need fixed.  Is it all about me or is it really about those things that matter to me?

Many of these players went to college.  Some graduated.  By academic standards they should be considered well educated, but they choose to practice ignorance.  They chose to evoke negative emotions where unity is needed.

They thrive on being divisive, when divisiveness will not bring about solutions. 

I want to know what has these players think we need to fix.  I won’t find that out by watching them take a knee.  I am not going to try to figure it out by searching news clips and web posts.

Come out and tell me in a public service announcement but don’t ask me to choose between loving my country and the flag which so proudly most of us hail and your antics.  The best that you can hope for there is that I just ignore you.

My freedom permits me to do all things, but not all things are profitable.

Hey!  Players!  You guys who for years most people thought were pretty good guys.  This take a knee play that you are running isn’t working.  You are losing yardage.

You make the sports reel every week but it’s in the bloopers section.

Try something else.  Try something that gets people on your side.  Believe or not, most of us want a better America for everyone.

We are the people that you want on your team.  Stop alienating us.

Here is the thing that I hope these college educated football player can grasp.  This is the country where we the people have the best chance of fixing things.

We have the best chance—of all the nations in the world—of making things better, but a house divided cannot stand.

If you want division, then you are succeeding.

If you want to work together on real problems and issues and explore new opportunities for all Americans, It’s time to run a different play.

Run a different play.

God bless America.

There is no targeting foul in politics

I am taking off my pastor hat for just a moment and putting on my training and consulting hat.  Yes, I know they overlap sometimes.

Why am I doing this?

I want to talk about this not standing for the flag business.  Peaceful protest in a free society is the hallmark of many of our advances.  Many I know well have fought to preserve that freedom.  Many gave the full measure of devotion.

Freedom is fantastic.  Enjoying freedom in our nation even more so!

I want to share something that the Apostle Paul said about freedom.  OK, I never really take my pastor’s hat all the way off… 

Paul said that he may do anything, but not everything is profitable.

I am free to do all things, but not everything is beneficial.

Which brings us to one of my favorite words:  Efficacy.

Efficacy is the power to effect desired change.  Self-efficacy is about making change in ourselves.

Efficacy is what enables you to lose weight, stop smoking, study more, correct performance errors.  Efficacy is what is required to raise your batting average from .225 to .275.

Efficacy is why some companies succeed and others fade away.  Efficacy is why some sports teams adapt and overcome and others wish they made the play-offs.

Efficacy is why some national and international issues get resolved and others linger.

Efficacy was a word that I used over and over again with inmate clients.  What is your goal.  To never come back to this place again.

I agreed that one belonged at or near the top of every list.

Then, something would happen.  A piece of property was confiscated.  Someone cut in the chow line (yes, I’m still talking prison not 1^st grade), or some other thing that in the context of getting and staying out of prison made little difference.

But inmates went to extremes to call attention to the injustice of having an unauthorized item of electronics confiscated often at the extent of internal sanctions.  When the inmate came back for counseling, I asked, “Did that outburst get you any closer to your goal?”

Words were not necessary.

So let’s jump to the NFL and players taking a knee.  Does it get them any closer to their goal?

Unless their goal is to alienate about 95% of the people in this country—most of whom love the peaceful protest as a right few around the world enjoy like we do, the answer is no.  I am not really sure what the goal was, if there was one when all of this knee-taking started.  I’ve heard race relations, police relations, and even cop hating. 

If all you do is upset most of the people who love America, how can you get anything accomplished other than making whatever problem you think you are bringing to light move farther and farther into the background while the focus narrows to the act of protest itself.

Prostests and protestors seldom are logical when they get going, but this one has been going on for a while and none of the protestors are doing the wise thing.

What’s that?

Clarifying their message.  What is their message.

Here’s something they might want to try.  It is within the domain of efficacy—the power to effect desire change.

Take something that most of us don’t have—a lot of money, and put some of it towards a coherent message.  Take some of it to start programs to help fix the problems.

I know some of the knee takers have made token investments.  If these causes were important enough to tick off most of the nation, support them with real investment.

While you are at it, stand for the National Anthem.  You are going to need those people that you anger every week if you really want something fixed in this country.

So you are angry that President Trump called you out on this.  Here’s the deal:  When you step onto the playing field of politics—and that’s what you did when you took a knee during the National Anthem—there are not refs to protect you. 

You think that you hit hard in the NFL.  You guys are wimps compared to playing on the field of politics.  That stuff is for real.

You can’t run with the ball and then call for a fair catch in politics. 

You wouldn’t let junior high kids play against an NFL team.  The kids would get hurt.  So why think that you can play politics with the big boys and not get laid out on occasion.  There is no targeting foul in politics.

You played with the big boys.  It hurt.  Stop crying foul where there is none.

Do I think that many of these players taking a knee have something to say about real problems in our nation?  Yes, I think that they do.

I also think that practicing efficacy will get them closer to what they want to accomplish, much more so than seeking to draw attention to themselves.

Which is more important:  Calling attention to me or garnering support for solutions to things that need fixed.  Is it all about me or is it really about those things that matter to me?

Many of these players went to college.  Some graduated.  By academic standards they should be considered well educated, but they choose to practice ignorance.  They chose to evoke negative emotions where unity is needed.

They thrive on being divisive, when divisiveness will not bring about solutions. 

I want to know what has these players think we need to fix.  I won’t find that out by watching them take a knee.  I am not going to try to figure it out by searching news clips and web posts.

Come out and tell me in a public service announcement but don’t ask me to choose between loving my country and the flag which so proudly most of us hail and your antics.  The best that you can hope for there is that I just ignore you.

My freedom permits me to do all things, but not all things are profitable.

Hey!  Players!  You guys who for years most people thought were pretty good guys.  This take a knee play that you are running isn’t working.  You are losing yardage.

You make the sports reel every week but it’s in the bloopers section.

Try something else.  Try something that gets people on your side.  Believe or not, most of us want a better America for everyone.

We are the people that you want on your team.  Stop alienating us.

Here is the thing that I hope these college educated football player can grasp.  This is the country where we the people have the best chance of fixing things.

We have the best chance—of all the nations in the world—of making things better, but a house divided cannot stand.

If you want division, then you are succeeding.

If you want to work together on real problems and issues and explore new opportunities for all Americans, It’s time to run a different play.

Run a different play.

God bless America.

Taking a knee

Have any of these highly paid athletes who kneel during the National Anthem ever considered the words that Francis Scott Key penned a little more than two centuries ago?  For that matter, have you who might take offense at their protest considered the song that brings us to our feet and puts our hands over our hearts.

The first verse begins with a question and ends with another question.  They are essential to understanding what we as a nation are all about.

We fought and paid dearly to gain independence from the British Empire.  We won and took a decade to come up with a Constitution that has no equal geographically or chronologically.  We began this grand experiment in a democratic republic with noble concepts, imperfect for sure, but there have been none better—ever.

The British wanted their colonies back and thus began the War of 1812.  By then we had a flag.  We had many in the formative years, but now we had one with stars and stripes.  It stood for this grand experiment for which so many had bled and died.

The song asks if anyone can see if the symbol of this young country had survived the night’s battle.  In the lights of explosions that continued through the night, glimpses of our flag remained, but dawn had come.  Did we survive the night?

We had and so too would our republic.

The question at the end of this verse is not to generations past but to us.  Does that flag still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Are we still willing to sacrifice today to keep this grand experiment alive?  Are we willing to set aside selfishness to preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity?

This country has problems.  Guess what?  They all do, but we are one of the few where we get to be a part of the solution.  I have been to many countries around this world, not staying in the finest hotels and meeting with celebrities, but living and serving among the working end of this equation called humanity.  I say with no qualification at all, ours is the best of the best.

We have problems but we are blessed to be a part of the solutions.  We are the government unless we get lazy or apathetic.

It is easy to point out problems or to assign blame.  It takes courage to jump into the arena and be a part of the solution.  Are there still racial problems in this great country?  Yes.

I will again say with some definition, they pale in comparison to most of the world.  We are spoiled.  We have abandoned self-discipline and respect for authority, and we—all of us—have authored the problems of this century.  The good news is that we may also be a part of their solutions, at least for now. 

If the American way is so bad that you must protest against it, what is better?  Bring a working model and put it before the people.  Small minds protest, blame, and object without sticking their necks out to produce something better.  Brave and creative ones offer viable alternatives.

The American way is to produce something better than we had before.  Do we want to preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity or do we just want to get some attention that we don’t like the way things are but will not get in the middle of the solution?

Does that star-spangled banner still waver over the land of the free and the home of the brave?  Are we still willing to be a part of the solution or just complain about how bad we have it in the very country where we have the best chance of all to fix things?

I love the words of President Theodore Roosevelt.  He spoke them overseas but they are surely meant for our generation in this country that has become so critical and divisive of everything.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

If you think that we have a problem with our police forces, set aside your Sunday uniform and dawn the blue or khaki of our nation’s most troubled police forces.  Go into the arena where there are no yellow flags to protect you.

If you don’t like the president, support another candidate in the next election but understand that he is where he is because of the process of very wise founders.

If you don’t like the law, elect different legislators.

If you think racism is a problem, then work to improve relations between people.

If you think that protesting is the only thing you can do, then grow a backbone and address the problems at their source.  Grandstanding never solved anything.

If you must kneel, do so before almighty God and thank him that you still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The apostle Paul wrote with regard to Christian freedom—and it applies to freedom in our land as well—that for me everything is permissible; but not everything is profitable.  Not everything is beneficial.

Not every exercise of our freedom is beneficial!

Do we have the wisdom to draw attention to the problems that need fixed in this nation without furthering the divisions that exist in this nation?

For the millionaire athletes that won’t honor the symbol for the very nation that gives them the right to do just that, here is a suggestion.  If it is attention that you want, buy advertising on television and present your solutions.  You are blessed to be paid great amounts of money for playing a sport. 

Are you willing to put your money to work to present solutions or do you just want to stay in the safety of protest without proffered solutions?

Will you live in the arena or on the sidelines for the things that you say matter?

I challenge you to stand for our National Anthem and use the liberty that it symbolizes to help make things better.  At present, you are moving this nation to more and deeper division.  Do you have the courage to help heal and reconcile and preserve liberty?

Do you have the courage to help realize what our founders hoped for, that we would be the land of the free and the home of the brave?

If you are handed the football or receive a pass in a game, will you take a knee because you might get hit?  I hope not. 

So why take a knee when the anthem of our best hope at living as a free people is played?  Blame is the cowards game.  Fixing the problem instead of fixing the blame is only for the brave.

Are you numbered among the brave?

Do I just turn off the NFL?

Do I just turn off the NFL and the absurdity of millionaire athletes exercising their First Amendment Rights to show how disgruntled they are with the land of the free and the home of the brave?  It’s a little ironic that these who use center stage to protest are the most blessed in our nation.

Like I said, it is the right of American expression.  It is their right.  I think in many cases it disrespects so many Americans who put others first, but it is their right.

 Instead of tuning out, let’s exercise our rights.  How about we begin on October 1^st by wearing Red, White, and Blue to every sporting event to demonstrate our support of those who serve:  Servicemen and servicewomen, police, fire and emergency service workers and all those who put others before themselves as they often put their own lives on the line.

Pull for your team but wear Red, White, and Blue.  Imagine an entire stadium that was all red, white, and blue regardless of who your team was.  Let’s make this football season a time to pull for your team and support those who serve.

Let’s start on October 1^st and continue through the Super Bowl.  Instead of exercising our rights to promote further divisiveness; let’s use them to promote unity and respect those who serve, at least when you attend these events.  Hey!  It’s you right too.

Junior High, High School, College, and Profession Football events all full of fans and supporters dressed in our nation’s colors could be a very visible sign to this nation that we do respect those who serve.  It would say that we desire unity and reconciliation more than divisiveness and insistence on so many selfish agendas. 

Let’s start this Sunday with Red, White, and Blue at every sporting event.  If I turn on my television and see a sea of colors of support, I might be able to stomach a few millionaires demonstrating how disgruntled they are with circumstances that they do not endure themselves.

Let’s exercise our rights but use them for the general good and not our selfish agendas.  Are there still problems in this nation?  Yes, but further divisiveness won’t fix them.  Let’s take this opportunity to move towards unity.  Let’s take this football season to say we support those who serve so selflessly, many giving their lives in the service of their country and communities.

Let’s exercise our right to say, we want to be one nation under God.  May God bless America.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

LAND THAT I LOVE!

Liberals eclipsed by shortage of reasons to blame President Trump for Monday's pending eclipse

Liberals worldwide are frantically scrambling, apparently caught off guard and surely without any prepared media barrage, on how to blame the pending eclipse of the sun on Donald Trump.  With just over 12 hours until this historic event, some have opted to a response only strategy, hoping that President Trumps tweets something on the order of what an absolutely fabulous event the eclipse turned out to be and how privileged those alive today are to have witnessed it.

Such a tweet would give those with no productive purpose in life a chance to cast dispersion upon the nation’s commander-in-chief for slighting other such celestial events such as Mars at perihelion and the occasional meteor shower.

As always, the Democratic National Committee has commenced a saturation email campaign declaring that to let Trump get away with the eclipse would be a nation tragedy.  As with other events where the committee found itself at odds with the President, their strategy is a request for money from all email recipients before other such eclipses overtake this nation.