I often do my best thinking while I’m walking. Tonight, it was me getting in a few extra steps after a fine dinner at Chick-fil-A.

I started thinking about Colin Kaepernick and him kneeling for the national anthem before football games. I thought about Nike starting an ad campaign featuring him, and how people are now burning their Nike apparel (which in my opinion accomplishes nothing).

I admit that it bothered me quite a bit. I was offended. I had to ask myself what it was that brought out such a response in me.

I don’t pretend to know everything about this dilemma, but here’s what I’m learning so far. I speak not from a position of authority but from someone who’s trying to understand.

I still am not a fan of kneeling for the anthem, but I also believe that standing for the flag is more than just something you do at football games when the Star Spangled Banner is sung or played.

The truest way you can show respect for the flag is to respect what the flag stands for. In the Pledge of Allegiance, it says that the flag stands for “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice FOR ALL.”

Perhaps, a greater offense than kneeling for the anthem is to remain seated and to stay silent in the face of any kind of oppression or injustice.

The pledge reminds us that liberty and justice aren’t just for a select few. They’re not for a certain race or ethnicity or socioeconomic status. They are for all, and any kind of oppression or justice anywhere in this land is a threat to liberty and justice everywhere.

When faced with these issues, the best thing I can do isn’t to point a finger of blame, but to look in the mirror and realize that the start of any change begins in me. If I’m to cast any blame, it must be into that mirror, but better still is to begin to do what I can to be a source of light instead of criticizing the darkness.

Jesus promised that one day everything wrong will be made right. One day, oppression and injustice will cease to exist, and true liberty and justice will prevail. Until then, He calls us to be salt and light to help people see a little what the Kingdom of God looks like.