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A REAL VETERAN KNOWS THAT

RESPECT CANNOT BE COMPELLED,
BOUGHT OR INHERITED — JIM
WRIGHT EXPLAINS IT ALL
Posted by Jim Wright | Aug 29, 2016 | Human Interest, News,
Op/Ed, Politics | 0 |

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“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a
country that oppresses black people and people of color. To
me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my Web Offers Ads by Adblade
part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and
people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

I’ve been away from the internet all day.

I came home from a family picnic on the Blackwater River to

This 1 “bedtime ritual” helps you
find my inbox, as usual, overflowing like a ripe Port-O-Potty. BURN up to 2 pounds while you
SLEEP
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One of the first messages I read was about 49ers quarterback

Colin Kaepernick, quoted above, who last Friday night at the
beginning of a preseason game suddenly decided to become
the most hated man in America du jour by deliberately not
standing for the National Anthem.

The Crowd Behind Her Got a Little

Yes, that’s right, a football player didn’t stand for the National Surprise
TheCelebrityLane

Anthem.

As you know, this means Kaepernick is scum, a horrible human

being, a likely member of ISIS, a Muslim terrorist, a black thug,
a communist, a socialist (and not the cool share your weed
Bernie Sanders kind of socialist but the Red Brigade kind of
Socialist who sleeps under a poster of Chairman Mao), a How To Fix Your Fatigue And Get
More Energy

radical, a Black Panther, and he probably has Fidel Castro’s

Gundry MD

phone number in his contact favorites.

Yeah. Okay.

I answered the message and went on to the next one.

Celebs you didn't know that passed

away.
The next message was about Kaepernick. As was the next one. boreburn.com

And the next one. And…

They all begin pretty much the same way: Jim, AS A VETERAN,
what do you think about this? Well?

Let me answer all the messages at once …

Charlotte's a steamy place in the
summer, and Charlotte McKinney's
Instagram pics are sweltering.
AS A VETERAN, what do I think about Colin Kaepernick’s I4U News

decision to sit during the National Anthem? Web Offers Ads by Adblade

As a veteran?
Very well, as a veteran then, this is what I believe:

The very first thing I learned in the military is this: Respect is a

two-way street. If you want respect, true respect, sincere
respect, then you have to GIVE IT.

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If you want respect, you have to do the things necessary to Today Is Jaw-Dropping
Edge Trends

earn it each and every single day. There are no short cuts and
no exceptions.

Respect cannot be compelled.

Respect cannot be bought.

What Mary Ann From Gilligan's
Island Looks Like Today Is Jaw-
Respect cannot be inherited. Dropping
Edge Trends

Respect cannot be demanded at the muzzle of a gun or by

beating it into somebody or by shaming them into it. Can not.
You might get what you think is respect, but it’s not. It’s only
the appearance of respect. It’s fear, it’s groveling, it’s not
respect. Far, far too many people both in and out of the
military, people who should emphatically know better, do not This 1 “bedtime ritual” helps you
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understand this simple fact: there is an enormous difference Flat Stomach Overnight

between fear and respect.

Respect has to be earned.

Respect. Has. To. Be. Earned.

The Crowd Behind Her Got a Little

Respect has to be earned every day, by every word, by every Surprise

action.
TheCelebrityLane

It takes a lifetime of words and deeds to earn respect.

It takes only one careless word, one thoughtless action, to lose

it.
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You have to be worthy of respect. You have to live up to, or at Detonate

least do your best to live up to, those high ideals — the ones
America supposedly embodies, that shining city on the hill,
that exceptional nation we talk about, yes, that one. To earn
respect you have to be fair. You have to have courage. You
must embrace reason. You have to know when to hold the line
POPULAR POSTS
and when to compromise. You have to take responsibility and
hold yourself accountable. You have to keep your word. You Dear Republicans, You
Deserve This
have to give respect, true respect, to get it back.

This Veteran Crushes

There are no short cuts. None. Every Argument
Against Quarterback…

Now, any veteran worth the label should know that. If they
A Real Veteran Knows
don’t, then likely they weren’t much of a soldier to begin with That Respect Cannot
and you can tell them I said so. Be Compelled,…

Why Are You

IF Kaepernick doesn’t feel his country respects him enough for Convinced Hillary Is A
him to respect it in return, well, then you can’t MAKE him Criminal?

respect it.
Trump Surrogate
Corrected And
You can not make him respect it. Schooled Three Times
In One…

If you try to force a man to respect you, you’ll only make him
Police Gunning Down A
respect you less. 73 Year-Old Woman
During A Weapons…

With threats, by violence, by shame, you can maybe compel

1930’s Germany Never
Kaepernick to stand up and put his hand over his heart and Saw It Coming, We
force him to be quiet. You might. Have Trump…

Trump Tweet Reveals

But that’s not respect. Real Fear Of Debating
Hillary Clinton

It’s only the illusion of respect.

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Prohibitive Dress Code
You might force this man into the illusion of respect. You For…

might. Would you be satisfied then? Would that make you

EXTREME VETTING?
happy? Would that make you respect your nation, the one
Trump Campaign CEO
which forced a man into the illusion of respect, a nation of little Refused To Let
Daughters
clockwork patriots all pretending satisfaction and respect? Is
that what you want? If THAT’s what matters to you, the illusion
of respect, then you’re not talking about freedom or liberty.
You’re not talking about the United States of America. Instead,
you’re talking about every dictatorship from the Nazis to North
Korea where people are lined up and MADE to salute with the
muzzle of a gun pressed to the back of their necks.

That, that illusion of respect, is not why I wore a uniform.

That’s not why I held up my right hand and swore the oath and
put my life on the line for my country.

That, that illusion of respect, is not why I am a veteran.

Not so a man should be forced to show respect he doesn’t feel.

That’s called slavery and I have no respect for that at all.

If Americans want this man to respect America, then first they

must respect him.

If America wants the world’s respect, it must be worthy of

respect.

America must be worthy of respect. Torture, rendition,

indefinite detention, unarmed black men shot down in the
street every day, poverty, inequality, voter suppression, racism,
bigotry in every form, obstructionism, blind patriotism, NONE
of those things are worthy of respect from anybody — least of
all an American.

But doesn’t it also mean that if Kaepernick wants respect, he

must give it first? Give it to America? Be worthy of respect
himself? Stand up, shut up, and put his hand over his heart
before Old Glory?

No. It doesn’t.

Respect doesn’t work that way.

Power flows from positive to negative. Electricity flows from

greater potential to lesser.

The United States isn’t a person, it’s a vast construct, a

framework of law and order and civilization designed to
protect the weak from the ruthless and after more than two
centuries of revision and refinement it exists to provide in
equal measure for all of us the opportunity for life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. The United States is POWER.

All the power rests with America. Just as it does in the military
chain of command. And like that chain of command, like the
electrical circuit described above, respect must flow from
greater to lesser FIRST before it can return.

To you the National Anthem means one thing, to Kaepernick, it

means something else. We are all shaped and defined by our
experiences and we see the world through our own eyes.
That’s freedom. That’s liberty. The right to believe differently.
The right to protest as you will. The right to demand better.
The right to believe your country can BE better, that it can live
up to its sacred ideals, and the right to loudly note that it has
NOT. The right to use your voice, your actions, to bring
attention to the things you believe in. The right to want more
for others, freedom, liberty, justice, equality, and RESPECT.

A true veteran might not agree with Colin Kaepernick, but a

true veteran would fight to the death to protect his right to say
what he believes.

You don’t like what Kaepernick has to say? Then prove him
wrong, BE the nation he can respect.

It’s really just that simple.

This post originally appeared on Facebook. You can check out

more of Jim’s great work on his awesome blog, Stonekettle
Station or on our pages here at American News X.

COMMENTS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Wright
Jim Wright is a retired US Navy Chief Warrant
Officer and freelance writer. He lives in Alaska
 where he watches American politics in a perpetual
state of amused disgust. He's been called the Tool
of Satan, but he prefers to think of himself as the
Devil's Designated Driver. He is the mind behind
Stonekettle Station. You can email him at
jim@stonekettle.com. You can follow him on Twitter
@stonekettle, or you can join the boisterous bunch
he hosts on Facebook at Facebook/Stonekettle.
Remember to bring brownies and mind the white
cat, he bites. Hard.

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