What To Truly Be Thankful For- Winning The Lottery Of Life

The continuing protests by multimillionaire NFL players who refuse to stand for our national anthem – disrespecting our flag and the brave patriots in our armed forces – are setting a terrible example for America’s children on Thanksgiving. The message? Don't be thankful for the many blessings America has given you. Instead, act ungratefully, disrespectfully and unpatriotically. And sadly, some children are now following that example. To cite just a few examples of protests around the country: Four high school football players from Michigan were benched when they said they planned a kneeling protest. In Texas, two high school players were kicked off their team after protesting during the anthem. Good decisions in both cases. And football players on a team made up of boys 8 and younger were joined by their coach in kneeling during the playing of our anthem in Illinois, after the coach told them about the protests started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Unbelievably, the coach said: “I felt like it was a good teaching moment for me.” Teaching what? Hatred of America? Schools are hyper-vigilant nowadays about not tolerating student expressions that might offend anyone. For example, a school in Texas shut down a voluntary Bible discussion during the lunch hour. God – oops, pardon that expression – forbid that any atheist child should be offended. If students banded together in a planned show of disrespect for a rainbow flag – the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride – you’d better believe they’d be punished for intolerance. If students held a protest objecting to radical political Islam, there’s no doubt they’d be disciplined for bigotry. The same would happen if students denounced and disrespected any country on Earth – with one exception. What ever happened to teaching tolerance, respect and what it "really" means to be an American. Sure the U.S. has had it's fair share of controversy and shame, but we are still the free-est country in the world and we should ALL (this includes the self-righteous ingrates who have the opportunity to play for riches here) thankful and eternally grateful for that. Being born in America is like winning the lottery of life. If you’re reading this post, you’ve already won the lottery. If you have been born into a country like Canada, the United States, or any other developed country, you’ve won the birth lottery. You’ve won the lottery of being able to grow up in a country of freedom, education, and considerable wealth. These are truly some things to be thankful for every second you breathe. It’s sad that the birth lottery exists. Not everyone is so lucky. If you lost the lottery, you won’t get the fortune of freedom and education. You won’t have the same opportunity to read or write and you won’t have access to clean water. You’ll probably be guaranteed a life of poverty because you don’t have the basic needs available to you or the education needed. You definitely won’t be able to participate in world discussions since you won’t have a computer or an Internet connection. You’ll be lucky to have a roof over your head and enough food to stay alive. However, if you win the lottery, you will have the opportunity to read and write. You will have access to clean water and the opportunity of wealth. You will be able to learn about the planet and participate in discussions made possible because of a wide array of products such as computers, the Internet, iPads, iPhones, and many other electronic gadgets. You will have access to health care, healthy food, and sanitary waste disposal. You will also have access to all the basic needs as well as the opportunity to travel and think about deeper things in life. It’s amazing what the simple chance of birth can do to how your life turns out. But it's been so easy lately to just take things for granted and out of context. So easy to point the finger and shake it in disgust. So easy to complain about not having enough, when people in other countries are going without. Somewhere along the line we stopped teaching that to our kids. Instead we teach them to take, take, take- and hate,hate, hate. And they see this on social media and on television. They see the lack of respect when their favorite football player takes a knee. I understand that this whole thing started with a protest against police brutality and was fueled to go on by something that our President tweeted, but by not standing for our National Anthem and our flag, those spoiled morons have crossed a dangerous line and the NFL by not addressing this, will more than likely loose half of their customers and fans before all is said and done. Why do Americans stand for the U.S. flag and the national anthem? To all those commie pinko's out there who still won't do it, I'm going to give you just five reasons why you should (or you can get the fuck out!) 1. We stand for the flag today, not to please ourselves but to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I believe every American, when the national anthem is played, should cover their hearts and think about all the men and women who have been maimed and killed. 2. We stand for the flag not to focus on what divides us but on what unites us, which is being an American. 3. We stand for the flag not to pledge allegiance to a president, but to honor the reality that we have an elected president and not a lifetime king. 4. We stand not because of past or present pain caused by injustice, but to salute the principle of justice. Patriotism is not pride in the pain of our nation’s past. Rather, patriotism is pride in the principles that paved the way for change, whether that change was trading royalty for representation in 1776 or exchanging enslavement for emancipation in 1863. From John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to Martin Luther King, Jr., many Americans have stood for justice for a more perfect union. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men—yes, black men as well as white men—would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” King declared in his 1968 “I Have a Dream” speech. King tapped the principles created by our founders and applied them to make “justice a reality for all of God’s children.” 5. We stand for the flag not for our generation but to set an example for the next generation. If we do not advocate a love of country to our children and the generations to come, then why would our children grow up to fight for their countries, the founding principles and moral truths? When we stand for the flag and anthem, we are standing for our hopes for our children’s future, that they will embrace the principles of patriotism and live out its moral truths of justice, perseverance and courage. We stand for the flag and anthem so they can stand for the flag and anthem. If you do not agree with this and want to continue to sulk over loosing the election, then whatever snowflake. I will continue to stand and be thankful for the many blessings that God has granted. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!