Today is Flag Day.
Do you love our flag? I mean really love it?
I was never a big flag-waver myself. I’ve always owned a flag and usually displayed it on certain holidays. But it wasn’t until the wound inflicted on America in 2001 that the sight of Old Glory began to an evoke emotional reaction in me.
I came to awareness about the outside world — the one beyond my extended family and my classroom at school — during a very turbulent time. In the late 1960s, the flag was a often a symbol of conflict: riots in the streets here in the USA, an incomprehensible war in southeast Asia; it was an icon embraced by people who represented an establishment I came to reject.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love our beautiful flag. I loved what it was supposed to represent: freedom, hope, opportunity — the things that made America great. I didn’t love some of the people who wrapped themselves in the flag at every opportunity — or, more specifically, I didn’t love the points of view they professed.
It wasn’t until 9-11 that I was really able to separate the two.
I love our flag, though I still have little use for people who wrap themselves in it and label anyone with different opinions “unpatriotic.”
Our flag stands for the right to have different opinions, and, moreover, the right to express them.
Our flag stands for freedom, and though our great nation, throughout its history, has often been far from perfect in its embrace of freedom for all people, freedom has been the cornerstone of its existence since its birth.
Our flag stands for opportunity, because America has always been a land of opportunity, the go-to place for people around the world for the enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And it still is.
Our flag also stands for unity: the unity of belief in the ideals that built America up and made our country strong. The unity of our spirit as a people.
I’m proud to fly our flag, especially on this day. Our country isn’t perfect, never has been. Our political system is far from perfect. Our economic system certainly isn’t perfect. But what we have here in these United States — warts and all — is still a beacon of hope and light for all the world.
So yes, I love our flag. I really, really do.
What about you? What are your thoughts on this?
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