"O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand, Between their loved homes and the war's desolation"

“This is about equality,” Rodgers said. “This is about unity and love and growing together as a society, and starting a conversation around something that may be a little bit uncomfortable for people. But we’ve got to come together and talk about these things and grow as a community, as a connected group of individuals in our society, and we’re going to continue to show love and unity.”

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/09/aaron-rodgers-packers-national-anthem-kneeling-instagram-cameramen-message-unity-hypocrisy

As a general rule, exceptions noted, Professional Football players are somewhat uneducated when it comes to the National Anthem and its purposes. Aaron Rodgers’ statement in coupled with his invitation that we "link arms" during the National Anthem is an example of that unfortunate fact.

While the citizens of this country should be united in some things, we will never completely agree. We should be willing to listen to one another. We ought to be tolerant of those who have different beliefs. The Constitution of the United States of America honors those principles. However, the singing of the National Anthem and the Presentation of colors is not a time for making such points.

In 2004 ABC News reported that a Harris Interactive Survey found that 61% of the Americans Surveyed did not know the words to even the first verse of our National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner” http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WaterCooler/story?id=124484, yet we continue to insist that it be played, as ritualistic commencement of virtually every sporting event. Perhaps we should stop the charade, for that is what it has become. All you have to do is scan the faces of those who wait patiently for the Anthem to end and the games to begin.

I would like to think that if we all knew the words to “The Star Spangled Banner" we would understand that this is sacred piece of music is a memorial in honor those who fought valiantly to give and preserve the freedoms we enjoy. I am convinced that if we knew this, no player would kneel, no quarterback would call for locking arms and no ESPN commentator would spend so much time talking about the President’s comments which encourage reverencing the National Anthem and the presentation of colors as being “divisive.” The words of this inspired piece of music convey the thoughts we ought to have as we sing vocally and in our hearts:

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

(emphasis mine). Those who understand the history of the Star Spangled Banner realize that the words to this hymn were written as a poem during the war of 1812 by an attorney, Francis Scott Key, who was temporarily imprisoned on a British Ship watching the bombarding of Fort McHenry and watched anxiously as the British assailed the fort as part of its attack against Baltimore. One can only imagine the concern that he had as soldiers defending the fort desperately fought to thwart the bombardments by a powerful English Navy. Grateful to see the Flag of the United States of America still flying at “dawn’s early light”, Key penned his feelings, which were later set to music and are now that are oft performed by individual soloists at athletic competitions while spectators take a moment to reverence and, in their hearts and minds, thank those who gave all so that we could have so much.

Aaron Rodgers’ expressed concern is about "unity." Certainly many have written about divisiveness. I am not sure those who claim that we are more "divisive" as a country today than ever before even know what that word means and they are certainly not scholars of the great debates of our ancestors in this land. One thing is clear: We have always had debate. We have always allowed people to dispute and discuss. In those debates, some have offended and some have been offended.

In battle, however, our warriors generally don’t worry about those debates. We ask them to storm the beaches of Normandy despite unfavorable odds, they do so. We ask them to sneak behind enemy lines, risking capture, torture and death, they go. We ask them to fly missions from which return is unlikely they fly, often praying that their efforts will protect the lands and people they cherish some of whom protest against their actions.

One time that we are asked show unity in gratitude for these brave patriots is in our during the singing of the National Anthem. The hiring of well-paid singers to "perform" the National Anthem has, perhaps, made us believe that only those who are well trained musicians are the only ones who are worthy of expressing this gratitude. I find that a shame. Perhaps that is why NFL players, rather than standing at attention out of respect for true warriors, are kneeling or locking arms to further their own agendas, worthy or not.

The NFL should re-evaluate its position on the National Anthem. Let your players and owners speak and protest as they want but, as far as the National Anthem goes, either choose to use it as it was intended---as a remembrance of the brave who defended us and our freedoms, or find some other way to start sporting events where, quite frankly, there is very little love or unity shown. As I see it, all the NFL is doing is desecrating the graves and the memories of our injured and fallen heroes and their families.