Kneeling to make America great

The worst in people and the best in people came out in the Las Vegas massacre that left at least 59 dead and about 500 wounded, many critically, at last count. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, motivation unknown, in an act of “pure evil” as President Trump rightly defined it, turned a fun-time outing into a nightmare, spraying gunfire from a 32nd-floor hotel into a crowd of 22,000 enjoying a country music festival on the ground below. The upbeat mood of the concertgoers was evident as they joined in singing “God Bless America,” creating a shining sea with their cellphone lights.

About an hour later, the shooting started. It was stark terror for those innocent, unsuspecting people. But in the midst of the carnage and horror wreaked by the evildoer, the best in people emerged in thousands of selfless acts.

One of the most poignant acts was related by Heather Melton of Big Sandy, Tennessee. She and her husband, Sonny, attended the Route 91 Harvest festival to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary. As the bullets flew and victims fell all around, Heather said her husband saved her life. “He grabbed me and started running when I felt him get shot in the back.” Sonny Melton, 29, a registered nurse, was fatally wounded in an unspeakably evil ending to his anniversary celebration.

Another hero in the worst mass shooting in modern American history was Jonathan Smith, 30, a copy machine repairman from Orange County, California. He went to the festival to celebrate the 43rd birthday of his brother. When the shooting started, Smith began looking for three nieces and urged people to follow him to a hiding spot behind a row of parked cars. He saw several young girls who were exposed, and he stood up to direct them to safety. He was hit by a bullet in the neck, fracturing his collarbone and a rib and bruising a lung. “I might have to live with this bullet for the rest of my life,” he said — a permanent reminder of the massacre and his part in saving lives. Smith said his own life was probably saved by a San Diego police officer who first tried to stop the bleeding and then flagged down a pickup truck to transport Smith and several other wounded persons to safety.

There were thousands of other heroes. The Las Vegas Sun said in an editorial: “Las Vegas residents bravely and selflessly rushed in to help. No questions. No hesitation. They saw people in need, and they went to their aid. Whether they were concertgoers comforting the wounded, law enforcement officers and first responders rushing in to protect the crowd, good Samaritans using private vehicles to take shooting victims to hospitals, or health care professionals working around the clock to aid the flood of more than 500 injured innocents, heroism was everywhere in Las Vegas. Under the most terrifying of conditions, a countless number of attendees at the concert shielded those around them, gave them medical aid and led them to safety. The stories from the scene were inspirational and amazing — people gathering belts and bandanas to use as tourniquets, carrying others out of harm’s way, exposing themselves to the hail of bullets to cover the wounded, creating gaps in the perimeter fencing so others could get away, and many more. There were angels in that crowd, and they saved lives.”

The Sun cited the aid provided by hotels and their guests in helping people, and the health care community in coping with a nearly overwhelming flood of wounded victims. After a shelter was set up, “another group of heroes emerged — the hundreds of people who delivered water, blankets and other items… There were so many donations, officials asked politely for people to stop dropping items off.”

Hundreds of people lined up at blood donation centers as early as 3:30 a.m. the day after the massacre. So overwhelming was the response that by 3 p.m. donations could no longer be accepted. The same thing happened with the outpouring of donations of food.

To cap off the good side of the story, an online GoFundMe account was set up to assist victims facing huge medical costs, funeral expenses and other financial needs. Contributions from people across the country was nearing $9 million by Wednesday afternoon. On top of that, nearly $4 million more had been donated by a hotel chain and individuals. And of course countless prayers have been sent Heavenward for those whose lives have been shattered and forever changed.

The Las Vegas massacre devastated hundreds of lives, an act of “pure evil.” Yet it also brought out the best in people who sought to overcome evil with good.

Mr. President, why must you concern yourself with the petty passion of the people? This disturbs me more than anything else in the NFL controversy. As the President of the United States, you must focus on issues that are endangering the lives of others with deliberate speed and dispatch. Among other problems needed to be addressed, Puerto Rico is still in need of aid, yet you spend your energy targeting peaceful protests.

Mr. President, I insist you read the Federalist Papers, they lay out the United States Presidency and the Executive Branch. One attribute of the presidency that is written is the length of presidential terms set at four years. This was no arbitrary number! It was selected because the president must be detached from the passions of the people, yet still be cognizant of the political realm. This means the president will have political ambitions and want to run again to become re-elected. The president must make unpopular decisions sometimes, the four year terms buys the president time to cozy back up to his constituents.

Have you not noticed that representatives in the House of Representatives, serving two years, are most impulsive? We have had a representative call for the President’s removal while there is a special investigation underway. It was purely political. He knew it wouldn’t work. Representatives would call for Hillary Clinton’s imprisonment over and over, even after several congressional investigations and hearings. All these investigations concluded with no recommendation of charges to be pressed, yet they pursued it. These representatives heard their constituents and fed them with empty actions. They are impulsive because their term length forces them to constantly listen and act on the people’s passions. If the representatives do not bend to the passions of the people, we see another 2010 Tea Party takeover of the House of Representatives.

On the other side of the fence is the United States Senate. There is a reason it has been continuously named the most deliberative body in the world. With term lengths of six years, they may be deliberative. They may look at facts, statistics and history when deciding issues and implementing policy. The Senate is by no means immune to politics, they must run and regain the trust of the people like any other political individual. They also have those that have less than pure intentions. Still and still, senators have many years they may deliberate with prudence and wisdom.

I understand the people being fueled by the kneeling and it capturing a large audience through the media; however, anyone with a high school education understands it is protected by the First Amendment. Mr. President, have you not noticed that not a single senator has brought the issue up once? It is a petty dispute fueled by the people’s passions, and a response is not befitting a senator.

A response is not befitting the president either. Mr. President, you are no statesman!

Snowflakes, those who are offended at kneeling, what are your arguments? They don’t stand. Let’s be clear, those who wish for players to be fired because they refuse to greet a flag and anthem with pride and those who promote the involuntary praising and salutation to a national flag and song are wishing to degrade the First Amendment and are currently changing the presidency. Those who want the petty passions of the people in the White House, this is for you.

The First Amendment protects the right of freedom of speech. If burning the flag is seen by the Supreme Court as protected speech, how is kneeling not? What do you want? You act as though a weekend boycott will do anything. Do you wish for a state with mandatory praising of the flag and anthem? Do you wish for the First Amendment to dissipate into the darkness in which all forgotten rights and freedoms are condemned?

I signed that contract, that blank check that confirmed my love of country. I swore on the oath many before me have swore on. An oath to uphold the Constitution. Those who have done the same understand that these rights are to be protected, not degraded. When I used to see a flag being burnt, I would wince. When I used to see a flag being disrespected, I shuddered. When I used to see people kneel for the anthem, I would roll my eyes in annoyance. Now, my eyes have been opened after the NFL incident. I realized that it was not a protest against the United States, but institutional racism.

Institutional racism is what is being protested, and it is being mistaken as a protest against the United States and its values. Isn’t it funny that the two are intertwined so much so that they are nearly unrecognizable?

One may ask where my passion comes from to address an issue so aggressively. I answer that the president is inept and a danger to the First Amendment. The president must not address these silly disputes among the people, he must govern.

We have poisonous water in Flint, a natural disaster in Puerto Rico, North Korea and Afghanistan to be concerned about to name a few. The president calling for the firing of private citizens for their beliefs and display of beliefs is intolerable and terrifying. This is a direct threat to the First Amendment and the power of the presidency. Is this the end of the First Amendment? Does a river erode a riverbank in an instance? No. This is the potential beginning of an eroding of the First Amendment. How to stop this? Demand the president respect the Constitution and act as a true statesmen, not meddle in petty passions of the people. GREYSON OSWALT-SMITH Jim Powell of Young Harris