Part of my bias is the timing and the manner in which she sang it. Just after the start of the Gulf War, for me my little brother had been deployed…it is a lasting memory and feeling for me. (Bro came home fine by the way)

As a veteran myself I would of course wish that service members lives were honored and cherished in a similar fashion, but that’s not the world we live in. I’m also not going to defend her choices. But I will defend her ability to sing. Singing is not as easy as it looks, takes years and years of practice to do it well. People aren’t just born that can sing like that. But plenty of folks will readily ooh and ahh over Cam’s ability to throw, run and his size and those are natural abilities he’s honed over the years. If God forbid something were to happen to him even if it were a series of bad choices on his part that were to lead to it, members of this community would be shocked and saddened.

People find inspiration in the oddest places. Some find it in the “natural” abilities of others, whether is be writing, singing, performing, acting, or driving a racecar. Sometimes there are the rare people that pass through this world that inspire us average folks to aspire to be something more with their talent. When they leave too soon, whatever the circumstances may be, it causes some of us to reflect and appreciate a particular moment in our lives. For some of us, that anthem at that particular time, is a memory. One of those moments where I remember where I was and who I was with. She just so happened to have been a person who helped create several of those memories in life for millions of others.

It was a tribute…one time thing.

Anyone who doesn’t like it can STFU and GTFO.