Feel free to stand or kneel when reading this. I shall preface my rant by first admitting that I do stand during the national anthem. However, I would like to believe that I would not be persecuted if I chose to kneel, sit, roll over or play dead.

I just can’t take this issue seriously. Just like every other controversial subject, the bandwagon has slowly become a convoy, in this case with everyone weighing that it as un-American to do anything other than stand. Excuse me, but the same anthem that speaks of our freedom included the freedom of choice.

Athletes, regardless of their sport, are not a true representation of what America is all about. Once again, because of this limelight, the media have provoked the masses to rally against something that has no bearing on how we will continue to live out our otherwise mundane lives, regardless of when or how this dies out, thus making a mountain out of a molehill. In the wake of the current national disasters, and the most recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, the national anthem should be the least of our concerns.

Listen: These protesting individuals have a reason, valid or not, to do what they are, or are not doing, and it is not for us to judge based on some predication or edict that the national anthem is something holy and without discretion. That said, this subject does not and should not warrant further attention; nor does it have any real merit. Move on, people.

Stephen Signor

Windham