The American Flag
What does it stand for now?
In grade school, every morning before school began, we said the pledge of allegiance to the American flag with our little hands over our hearts, saying words we did not understand. It was obvious that the flag was important and held in high regard.
I remember when anyone had to bring it down from the pole it was not to touch the ground and was to be folded properly. I was told it was against the law to burn the American flag. At my father’s funeral, two naval officers performed an elaborate procedure folding the flag, before handing it to my mother. There are countless paintings of wars in which brave men who were fighting for a cause they believed in held it high in battle. On the news, I saw it on top of the rubble left by the 911 destruction. I’ve seen it on top of mountains that have been conquered by American climbers and even on the moon!
And yet now I see our flag plastered to windows, on garage doors, made into shirts by men who wear war paint on their faces and on the back of pick-up trucks — large flags flapping in the wind as young men drive frantically on the freeway determined to overtake any car that comes near, oblivious to all around them. I see our flag hanging from freeway overpasses and held by people who protest an election that has been proven time and time again to have been legitimate. And yet…
