WHEN I saw the news story about how San Francisco 49er QB Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand for the National Anthem, I didn’t feel angry or disgusted. I didn’t feel offended. I felt that Kaepernick had missed the point of his own protest, the chance to shape the story going forward, and the opportunity to control the ebb and flow of it’s narrative.

He is an NFL QB, and likely his team’s starter. That position grants him an opportunity possessed by only 32 people in a country of 320 million people. Weekly at press conferences, he has a chance to get in the nations ear and bring up a myriad of subjects.

More than talking, he could have used money from his own pocket to help those whose stories reached him and touched his heart. An attorney here and there for a person he felt had been railroaded, would be of infinitely more help than merely sitting down.

The place where I really feel that Colin dropped the ball, was in his misunderstanding of his own protest. If he is unhappy with the treatment of Americans by other Americans, then as an American, this is his chance to lead by example. But (so far) instead of standing for his principles, he has sat on them.

As Americans were are ALL charged with doing something in our own space that adds to our home, our community, our country and our culture. Too many of us however are focused on what we can get out of being Americans, as opposed to what we are responsible for contributing. 

If I could get one minute to speak with Colin, I would tell him that no mess ever got cleaned by a man sitting on his ass. That it is undeniably true that some Americans have made a mess of things. However, unless we’re waiting for those same Americans to clean it up, we other Americans have a job to do. I would tell him that if he truly believes in his cause, that he needs to stand with his fellow Americans. Because it’s too important for him to sit this one out.