Raymond Pietzak – My America Anthem

Being a huge sports fan I’ve always respected the National Anthem. Before every game I would stand to show my gratitude toward those who fight for us. In this monologue I felt such a connection with Gwydion Suilebhan, the writer of the monologue, when he talked about how much it meant to him in that moment, and then it just goes away and we just stop paying attention to the flag. Before one of my high school football games the national anthem started to play and my head should have been in the game but I just couldn’t. I was thinking about everything going on in the world, and how we as a nation are reacting, then like he said it just stops and no one seemed to care anymore and then it was kickoff. Our anthem is who we are as people and a way to respect everyone who has risked and lost their life for our freedom and safety. This monologue especially got to me, because of what is going on in the NFL with certain players not standing for the national anthem. With them not standing, although it is because of what they believe in, it feels like a disrespect of what we as a nation stand for. This relating to the idea that at the end of the nation anthem, Suilebhan felt like all of the meaning behind saluting our flag was gone.