Why do I stand for the flag? Standing for the flag for me helps me show respect to the ones who lost their lives or serve our country to keep this country safe. While I have no family members in the army, I feel that I should give them the respect they deserve because of how they choose to leave their families to help protect all the people of America. I also stand to give respect to those families because of the hardships they have to go through with having a loved one part of the military. Some of the things that these families go through are the time spent away from the person, the stability of the family, and the lack of control over the military careers. 

I do stand for the flag for respect, but also I don’t discriminate against the people who sit for the pledge. The reasons that some people have for kneeling or sitting during the pledge are valid and shouldn’t be pushed aside. One of the reasons that people don’t stand for the flag is because of the phrase, “liberty and justice for all”. Most people believe that America doesn’t provide any justice or liberty for all because of all the current events that have happened that have involved racism, homophobia, and sexism. Them sitting during this national expression gives them a way to silently protest for the rights of all. Although this way of expression is valid, I choose to stand because it’s what I believe is the way to show how thankful I am to be protected by the US military.