A Word or Two About Courage . . . the Latest Flap Over Colin Kaepernick

It’s been just a week since Colin Kaepernick tweeted a photo of his face from the upcoming Nike 30th anniversary “Just Do It” ad campaign. Nike reportedly garnered $43 million in media exposure within less than 24 hours after that tweet, according to Apex Marketing group.

The 2018 “Just Do It” ads prominently feature such groundbreakers as Serena Williams, LeBron James, Odell Beckham Jr., Lacey Baker, and Shaquem Griffin . . . but the one that rolled out Thursday during the NFL season opener was narrated by Kaepernick.

The catch line that appears over his face is: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

And the firestorm of catcalls and abuse we’ve witnessed repeatedly over the two years since the quarterback began to kneel during the National Anthem at 49ers games rolled across the news media and the Internet once again.

CUT THE CRAP, PEOPLE

I’m not going to waste time on the bogus assertions by critics -- including and especially the occupant of the Oval Office -- that the former star quarterback for the University of Nevada in Reno who played six years for San Francisco somehow showed disrespect for the flag or the military by kneeling to express his dissatisfaction with ongoing racism and fatal violence against African Americans.

I’m certain everyone who reads this is already well aware that Kaepernick launched his protest in August 2016 by remaining seated during the “Star-Spangled Banner” . . . then, specifically concerned that this might be regarded as disrespectful to Americans in the service, he consulted a former NFL player and U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Nate Boyer.

The Army vet suggested that kneeling during the National Anthem would be more appropriate, and respectful of both flag and veterans: “Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother’s grave, you know, to show respect.”

Boyer was also fair and honest enough to say to Kaepernick, in print: “What you are doing takes a lot of courage, and I’d be lying if I said I knew what it was like to walk around in your shoes. I’ve never had to deal with prejudice because of the color of my skin. . . .”

THE NATURE OF COURAGE

That hasn’t been sufficient for Kaepernick’s detractors, so I want to talk about courage. Critics called Kaepernick’s sacrifice minuscule compared to that of citizens in the military who risked or gave their lives for their country.

Set aside the fact that this is a bogus piece of reasoning (because nobody, including Kaepernick, wishes to deny military service personnel who served in combat their due).

Let’s concentrate, instead, on the nature of courage. Now, courage involves putting yourself in a situation where things you really don’t want to happen -- injury, failure, humiliation, death -- have a distinctly higher potential of happening.

Different activities test different people’s courage. I’ll note here that, if we just count heads, more people have the courage to go into battle than do public speaking or acting. In repeated surveys, citizens have said one of the things they fear most is public speaking. I’ve done it many times, and I wouldn’t say I’m any braver than the average person.

“For most people who are not actors what we do is terrifying -- the idea of walking out onto a brightly lit space in front of several hundred or even thousands of people in a darkened auditorium,” Patrick Stewart says in the book In Character: Actors Acting. “[But] for most actors it’s the exact opposite.” Stewart grew up in a chaotic and violent environment as a child, so “that brightly lit space where I was being observed was far more secure and safe than the outside world.” The formality of theater was, for him, “an antidote to the chaos and danger of my offstage life.”

The thing I’ve noticed in accounts of battle, however, is that military personnel don’t typically think of the flag or their country or “defending freedom” when they’re under fire; their concern is not to fail their buddies. Plus, quite a few military service people never put their lives on the line. Many work in support positions: drivers, cooks, IT specialists, mechanics, analysts, media liaisons, engineers, translators, and so on.

These are essential roles that qualify as service to one’s country, certainly, but they don’t necessarily entail any particular courage or risk. I wouldn’t call them any more honorable -- or of any greater service to the nation -- than nursing, teaching, or long-haul trucking. We need them all to survive and prosper.

I recently read a fascinating book titled Stolen Valor: how the Vietnam generation was robbed of its heroes and its history. The author, B.G. Burkett (assisted by journalist/co-author Glenna Whitley), is a Vietnam veteran who was puzzled by the outsize role that atrocities and torture played in accounts of the war -- and especially entertainment about it, from The Deer Hunter and Platoon to Casualties of War and First Blood.

Burkett was also suspicious of how PTSD became such a growth industry over time in terms of both Veterans Administration funding and care, and private medical practice and psychiatric theory. There seemed to be so much more of it decades after the war than immediately following it.

The author delivers an astonishing and sobering account of how many people have lied about their military service (piling up medals and ribbons, relating tales of action they couldn’t have seen), and claiming to have been “in country” when their military service records clearly indicate they weren’t. Many bogus military “heroes” have hoodwinked newspapers and even top broadcast journalists like Dan Rather. Others cited false experiences and misleading service records while running for political office.

Individuals who were failures and screw-ups in life before they entered the military have used Vietnam (whether they actually served there or only in the U.S., Japan, or Europe) as an excuse for their drug habits, criminal behavior, and supposed symptoms of PTSD. Some were not ever in the service have risen to positions of responsibility in veterans organizations and advocacy groups.

Neither Burkett’s book nor Kaepernick throws any dishonor upon veterans who served honorably . . . but merely being a veteran doesn’t confer automatic honor in itself, and we should stop presuming it does. There are venial, lazy, cowardly, and even criminal citizens in the service and afterwards, just as there are in the general population.

THE HEART OF THIS MATTER

But let’s get back to courage. Here’s a simple question: If you were told not to do something that meant a lot to you personally (for example, praying to your God, wearing a shirt or button with a particular political message, or getting to spend some extra time with our child in the hospital) and your job were on the line . . . would you still do it?

If we’re honest, most of us would come up with an excuse to dodge that dilemma: What we wanted or value is “not that important at the moment” . . . or we just plain declare: “I need this job.”

Kaepernick didn’t take that easy way out. He decided the woes of the average African American were his fight, too. It’s easy to say “he’s not suffering” when he can afford to give away $1 million to charities that support the cause. But he hasn’t had a proper job in two years now: a job in which he got to do what he loves, what he trained all his life to do.

How would you feel in that position? It might not matter how much money you had, if you didn’t get to do what you love. Especially if, as alleged by the lawsuit Kaepernick filed, all the potential employers colluded to keep that job from you on purpose.

So which of us is willing to give up our job -- right now, especially if we’re good at it and enjoy it -- with the added threat that you might not get another chance to do it ever again?

Show of hands, people: Who else has that kind of courage?