American Sniper' wife pens letter to NFL: 'Division,' 'anger' shatters people's love for the sport

Taya Kyle, wife of the late "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, penned a brutally honest open letter to the NFL, which she shared on her Facebook page on Tuesday.

What did the letter say?

Kyle expressed her disappointment at protests within the franchise and accused the players involved in the protests of being complicit in destroying "what many people loved most about the sport."

She began by lauding the NFL for initially doing its "part to bring people together" and in healing the world.

"That’s really how healing works," she wrote. "We heal by loving each other and leading by example; showing people what is possible when we love each other just as we are and not only recognize our differences but celebrate them and look at how we can use them together to make us jointly better than our separate parts."

Kyle said that the NFL succeeded in promoting diversity and did so through a "joint vision without regard to color and religion."

She noted, however, that once the protests began and started to gain momentum, the NFL failed to do its part to unite Americans.

"Did it ever occur to you that you and we were already a mix of backgrounds, races and religions?" she asked. "We were already living the dream you want, right in front of you."

Kyle added that the protesters "desire to focus on division and anger has shattered what many people loved most about the sport," and noted that "football was really a metaphor for our ideal world."

"Different backgrounds, talents, political beliefs and histories as one big team with one big goal — to do well, to win, TOGETHER," she added.

She wrote that the NFL, in its current state, is asking Americans to "abandon what we loved about togetherness" and to "make choices of division" instead.

"Will we stand with you?" she asked. "Will we stand with our flag? What does it mean? What does it mean if we buy a ticket or NFL gear? What does it mean if we don’t? It is the polar opposite of the easy togetherness we once loved in football.

"You have lost me here," she admitted. "If you ever want to get off your knees and get to work on building bridges, let me know. I have found screaming about the problems in service marriages, or even standing in silence in front of them, hasn’t healed even one of them.

"You have a lot of strong guys, I am sure in the off season a lot of them could build some pretty big bridges if they care enough to do the hard work," she concluded. "That would involve getting off their knees and getting to work though. I can do it while I raise two kids as their only parent and work through the greatest pain of my life, let’s see if they can do it for the issues they say they care so much about."

This writer's perspective

If all Americans could simply put into perspective what we as a society have, perhaps it would be easier to understand that the majority of people are probably doing the best that they can in bridging the divide between our brothers and sisters in the country and in Christ.

While not all Americans are out there on their knees during televised moments, it doesn't mean that they don't care. Just because you don't "take a knee" on the House floor, during a football game, or in schools, it doesn't make you any more or less American than those who choose to effect change through different channels.

Perhaps Kyle's letter — a missive penned by the widow of a slain U.S. soldier who chooses love and hope to help navigate her way through changing landscapes of the world instead of focusing on what's been taken from her — can set an example for those on their knees — and off them.