My opinion most likely will not matter to anyone—except maybe my father who is a war hero. That’s okay. I’m saying it anyway. Because you see, this is America—where we are allowed to have opinions, and dreams, and opportunities. We are allowed to disagree with anyone and everyone without the fear we will be thrown in jail or exiled because what we believe may be utterly different than what is popular, or politically correct or is even correct at all.

We are free to hold fast to our convictions and we are just as free to change our minds. That is what Americans are allowed to do.
I have been watching the controversy and how awful so many on either side of these political battles are. I have read the name calling and heard the name calling and watched some just blatantly ignore anyone else’s thoughts while they spew their own. It makes me sad. And at the same time—I know in my heart and in my brain—this is America.

I have a very hard time watching folks kneel down for the anthem—to show some sort of solidarity they believe is justified. It is their right and it is their freedom to do so. It just saddens me that from their bowed heads and bended knees they do not look up—they do not look up in the stands and see so many of our veterans who fought and lost something of themselves—standing up and singing. They do not see a daughter who lost a father, a father who lost a son, a brother who lost a sister, a mother who lost her child, or an old soldier who lost a dream or two while they battled the demons of wars so very far away so the folks down in front can kneel and dishonor them. I have a hard time with that. I do.

I have difficulty listening to one celebrity or another shout in indignation, “I am leaving the country if so and so, or so and so gets elected…” So go. Leave. You are not an American if you can abandon this wonder of a country in the blink of an eye. There are people who are here, legally and even illegally who would never leave unless forced to do so. But you—you person—who has all the money and power in the world to go live someplace else—please do so. I’m staying. I’m staying no matter who gets elected.

I am an American.

I will support my president even when I disagree. I will honor our forefathers and my own father who fought valiantly so I can speak my mind and live without fear of persecution for my very own thoughts. I will forever stand for an anthem with tears in my eyes as I remember the hurts of the people who struggle to make America a place people still dream of coming to. I will never bow my head or kneel down and ignore my country. Instead I will stand with my hand over my heart and I will have hope in my soul and I will continue the battle with single acts of kindness to make the parts I can actually touch a better place.

Monika M. Basile