Even if Toni Smith is wrong, much good has come of her actions.

Smith plays basketball at Manhattanville College, a Division III school in New York. Since December, she has protested what she calls "inequalities embedded into the American system" and the pending war in Iraq by turning 90 degrees away from the flag during the national anthem before each game.

Only recently have her actions garnered much attention, but what a great, living civics lesson this has turned out to be, reaffirming that the system works much as our forefathers envisioned. People have engaged in the process of voicing opinions, with considerable passion, on many facets of free speech. The tableau reminds me of anecdotes about fathers of our country bickering as they hammered out of the details in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Smith's silent protest really has set tongues a waggin'. On Feb. 11, when Manhattanville played at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 300 flag-waving fans chanted "USA" and "Leave our country." A week ago, Mount St. Mary's student government handed out 500 flags and sang "God Bless America" to Smith. Last Sunday, Vietnam veteran Jerry Kiley waved a flag in front of Smith while a teammate lined up for a free throw.

The drama is important because they -- and by extension, we -- have been asked to examine freedom of speech, taken for granted far too often. If you've decided that Smith was right or Kiley was right or Fusz was right or the university was right, congratulations. You get an "A" for contemplating the issue and grappling with its depth and subtleties. I think they're all right because they exercised their right to voice an opinion and dealt with the consequences.

Even if you disagree with Smith, at least concede that her act is no more disrespectful than more common activities in which sports fans engage during the anthem: waving down the beer man, running to the bathroom, talking on a cell phone, arguing with the guy in the next row, screaming at the top of one's lungs when the singer hits and holds the high note on "the land of the FREE."

Smith's actions have been thoughtful and thought-provoking, as opposed to plain-old thoughtless.

Kathleen Nelson is a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.