Fly an American flag this 4th of July
I must confess, I didn’t watch the President’s speech last night, because, as a general rule, I would rather have a root canal than watch a politician make a speech. However, I did scan quite a few reviews of the speech and was struck by how polarized the reactions were. It was either a triumph of American freedom or the harbinger of doom, depending on which review you were reading.
Acting on a tip from a loved one, I located a transcript of the speech and was able to find the single most important line, which I reveal to you now:
"This 4th of July, I ask you to find a way to thank the men and women defending our freedom, by flying the flag, sending letters to our troops in the field or helping the military family down the street."
If you think that I’m only using this line as a blatant sales pitch to sell more flags (American flags, Betsy Ross flags - we have ‘em all!), well, your partly right. But there is a much more serious point to be made. There’s a whole lot of people who love this country, who recognize and respect all those who have made a personal sacrifice on their behalf, and fly an American flag as a symbol of gratitude. And many people with the same point of view don’t fly American flags, but show their gratitude in other ways.
Then there are those who also love this country, but fear the direction we’re going in, are against the war, strongly dislike the President and feel that to fly the American flag would be a show of support for the opposition. This attitude is dead wrong.
Opposition is inherently part of the American political system, yet regardless of viewpoint, we are all Americans. To relinquish the very symbol of our national identity, our flag, to one political party or another is a mistake. The American flag does not belong to or represent any one political ideology, religious belief, etc. - it belongs to us all.