Why I will not kneel

It's become quite the fashion in the last week or so to kneel, either in protest of the George Floyd murder or in sympathy with those protesting the murder.  In fact, all over the internet and elsewhere (newspapers, opinion columns, blogs) people are rushing to assure their audience that they're in step with the groupthink that says systemic racism infests America.  To show how progressive they are, people are either posting completely blank black pages as a "blackout" or they're physically kneeling.

I don't have a particular problem with bowing or even kneeling per se.  As a martial artist for two decades and a practitioner of Zen Buddhism for nearly as long, I'm intimately familiar with both bowing and kneeling - AS A SHOW OF RESPECT.

What is being demanded by the progressives with the current fad, however, is not respect but submission.  When I bow upon entering the dojo, it is a voluntary sign that I respect the space and those in it.  When I bow to my opponent, my opponent also bows to me in a mutual show of respect.  My bows and prostrations within my daily Zen practice are a show of respect: respect for the historical Buddha, respect for the teachings promulgated by his followers and respect for fellow sentient beings.

My bows show respect, but for the sheep thinkers who are demanding that I kneel before their cause, respect is not nearly enough.  They want submission, and that is impossible.

So I will not kneel, either literally or figuratively, to anyone.  As an American, I may show respect to anyone I choose in any way I wish, but I will not kneel to despicable despots whose aim is submission, not respect.