I’m going to start off by saying yes, this is a political article; however it stretches much deeper than that. This is an article about ethics, morality and human nature. Now, right off the bat I’m sure about seventy five percent of my readers right now are probably more left-leaning that right. But that’s completely fine, you may not agree with me politically, but what I have to say does not have to do with what my views on gun control, abortion or other hot-topics are. No, this is about respect and dignity. There are a lot of trends going around lately that involve showing a lowered respect towards certain patriotic items; one being the American flag. Having said that, please don’t shoot me down for calling them “trends.” I am well aware of the fact that these protests carry a lot of meaning towards the people who take part in them. However what I do not understand is their reason for protesting the flag, they of course have all sorts of reasons; racism, sexism and all that fun stuff. But the flag has nothing to do with that; that flag, MY flag, represents the sacrifices of the American people, the sacrifices of the men and women who work hard to keep America free and prosperous. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, whether you are a woman, a man, or anything else you choose to be. What really matters is that you respect the dignity and sacrifice of those people, your people, my people, the American people. It’s not an issue of race, because just as many black-Americans, latino-Americans or asian-Americans have died for that symbol. The flag flies in the name of freedom, it flies in the name of democracy and prosperity. It is not a symbol for hate, racism or sexism; but instead a symbol for our people, the American people. When you burn, standon or fly upside-down our nation's colors, you are only hurting yourself. You claim the flag is at fault, you claim that it represents everything that is wrong with America, but you are incorrect; YOU represent everything that is wrong with America. Because when you live in a place where the people are standing on the flag, disrespecting their own symbol, you know something is messed up. If you wish to protest racism, sexism or any other grievance you may have, don’t do it on the flag, march to your local government building and conduct a peaceful protest. These people who stand on the flag compare themselves to MLK and Ghandi, but MLK never stood on the flag. He loved America just as much as the next man, what he hated was the racism in government, and do you know what he did? He took hold of the problem and he marched on the Capital. He didn’t stand on the graves of thousands of servicemembers, he did the right thing and maintained professionalism, even after being beaten, arrested and abused. So next time you are holding a lighter in one hand and my flag in the other, please remember what you read here today.