In the national anthem drama dividing the nation, there comes a lesson for unifying the nation. It seems the NFL teams know only one script: Team spirit. As in all sports, everything they do is as a team. Has there every been a game in all of sports played that didn't end with the star player saying, "It's not about me; It's about the team"?
Sometimes, it seems not.
Sometimes, I think the most important part of current events is what you learn from them. So, if we want to learn how to be united as a nation, the NFL teams have given us a blueprint. Last Sunday, they taught us how. In probably every locker room in the NFL, the players held team meetings, listening to each other's feelings, in hopes of coming to a consensus. They listened, and listened and listened. And, they talked out their differences.
And, they listened respectfully. You won't come to a consensus if you don't respect each other.
Don't let it go unnoticed on us that the name of this country is the United States of America. United, it says. That implies being on the same team, if you will. And, if we are to be united, we must think as a team. Just as those who wanted to stand for the anthem and those who wanted to kneel both listened to each other, so must we -- if we are to be the United States -- listen to each other. Just as the two sides learned to empathize with each other in the NFL, so should we learn to empathize.
And, to accept each other.
And, to say, "It's not about me (It's not just about my point of view); It's about the team (It's about what we as a whole nation should do)."
The players considered what they could do as a team. They all wanted to act together, as one. What a concept? What if we thought that way, as a nation? What if we came together, saying, "Okay, some of us think this way, and some of us think that way. Is there anything we can do to respect both sides, both views?"
After all, we're a team. We are the United States of America.
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