The American flag is made of cloth, usually cotton but sometimes artificial fibers. Everybody knows that the 13 stripes represent the original colonies that rebelled against Great Britain. There is one star for each state. Up to this point, the flag is not remarkable.
News flash to Kaepernick, there is more.
He is upset that this country symbolized by the flag is not perfect. OK, that’s absolutely correct.
The USA is not perfect. It has a history full of inequities, aggression, selfishness and great wrongs. So far, I agree with Kaepernick.
Now, Colin, name a perfect country. Just exactly where would you like to live? What country has an unblemished history? Have you ever lived in a foreign country? I have. I’ve lived in Germany, Greece, and Pakistan. None of those countries can reach the knees of the United States by any measure of righteousness. I have visited many other countries and have found none which compares with this country.
But that’s not the end of the issue. Anybody can criticize.
What has Kaepernick done to make this country better? I assume he has contributed money to charities. Perhaps, he has made public service announcements or contributed substantial amounts of his personal time to charities.
If I were he, I would make that widely known because that fact might raise his image from that of a self-centered, pampered, over-paid athlete.
I have another free recommendation for him. No charge. Travel abroad. Visit any African or Asian country of your choosing. Be sure to observe how the poor live.
Besides seeing tourist sights, read the newspapers. I’ll give you one example from Pakistan. In the English language newspapers, Pakistani parents advertise for potential wives and husbands for their children. Do you know what is valued almost as much as a good education? The answer is a “wheatish complexion.”
Try to keep your composure in any Indian train station. There the beggars are really poor; most appear to be half-dead. American beggars are middle-class by comparison. There is one thing in common among most countries in this world. That common thing is that, if you’re born to a poor family, you’ll die poor yourself. Don’t believe me, check it out.
When I traveled abroad, I didn’t see anything American for weeks at a time. When I finally reached an American consulate or embassy and saw the American flag, it looked beautiful to me. It was a truly wonderful sight.
I served almost 24 years in the U.S. Army. One of my proudest privileges was the right to salute the flag. After I retired, I missed that privilege. Then in National Defense wAuthorization Act of 2008 granted veterans the privilege to render a military hand salute when the National Anthem is played and when the flag passes in a parade. I proudly exercise that privilege even though some people think that I’m pretentious. Too bad.
I’m proud of my country. In every war of the 20th and 21st Centuries, our country has defended freedom. We have liberated more people than any other country in the history of the world.
Is our flag really just a piece of cloth?
My father was a corpsman on Iwo Jima during the battle. He saw the flag rise at the peak of Mt. Suribachi. He described the same feeling that I felt every time I saw the American flag above the American embassy in Islamabad, a flood of warmth that began in my heart and flowed outward to my extremities.
Kaepernick has the right to kneel during the National Anthem, but I have the right to think he is an ignorant child.

Michael Waldron is a retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, who was born and raised in Niles. He previously served on the Niles Community School Board of Education. He can be reached at ml.waldron@sbcglobal.net.