By Sue Staton

I am so sickened by the disrespect some of the NFL athletes are showing to their own country that has given them so much.

These players make millions of dollars and disrespect the country that pays their salary.

It hurts me to think of our soldiers who have risked their lives on a daily basis so these guys have the freedom to be able to play ball and sports.

These soldiers make around $35,000 a year while the NFL athletes make an average of $11 million. That in itself is such a joke to me.

I feel President Donald Trump had every right to call them out.

While I do not agree with the language he used, I do feel as a representative of our country it was needed, and the players need to be fined or fired.

What is really sad to me is how much the young people think of these athletes as their idols. In my opinion, they are not worthy to be idolized.

If a player is not ready to stand for our flag and National Anthem and have respect for what they stand for, they need to leave our country and go to another.

At one game this weekend, a guy who had spent three terms in Afghanistan sang the National Anthem. It hurt me to know that one team stayed in the locker room while the other team locked their arms in solidarity to disrespect the flag and anthem.

Can you even imagine what this man who sang must have felt when he had given his efforts and could have easily lost his life for this pathetic group of men?

Not once, but three tours in Afghanistan — what a hero!

Alejandro Villanueva served his country and he came out to show respect. He knew what the flag and anthem meant to him. I am proud of him for standing for what is right.

It took someone brave to do this. He had already shown bravery by serving our country in the military. He knew what seeing that American flag waving meant to him.

That is what a true man looks like. The disrespectful are boy cowards, in my opinion.

While watching a show on Vietnam on Sunday, I watched as soldiers were in the middle of gunfire daily, watching as their friends were blown to pieces and taking bullets into their own bodies. All I could do was thank them in my heart and wipe my tears. Unfortunately, I could not keep the athletes out of my mind and got a sickening feeling about them.

Where is the respect for these men and women who left their families and the niceties of life to be sent to war-torn countries and face death daily? They were lonely, missing family and yet dedicated to their country.

They are heroes in my book and I will never forget them. All other Americans should not either.

What is this country coming to when the people who live in the best nation in the world lose respect for it?

I have traveled to other countries and I know why most of the world wants to come here to live.

Wake up, America! Keep the respect this country deserves!

Do not idolize the athletes who do not respect their country, they are wrong.

Let the young people you are around realize how disrespectful they have been to our country, their country!

Please raise your sons and daughters to show respect for this great country.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native who grew up in the Kiddville area. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.