I think tonight, on the way home, I’ll stop and buy a bottle of French wine to celebrate. Why on earth, you might be asking, would I buy a bottle of French wine (with all the nastiness towards America that pours forth from France) and what would I be using it to celebrate?
Well, at least one small corner of France loves the American flag and more importantly, gets the symbolism of it right (they at least get some of it right). I came accross an archived story about last years 60th anniversary of D-Day that I found astonishing.
The people in the small village of Trevieres on the Normandy coast had the American flags out in force for the celebration. And the people there, particularly the old-timers, were ready to express their gratitude for the America that saved them from Hitler’s grasp.
Odette Durosier, the owner of a cafe on the town’s main square, had the place decked out in red, white and blue with American flags covering every available space. She had this to say about the flag, "The American flag means freedom, not the American government. It’s not a question of politics."
Bravo, Odette. She got it mostly right. True, the American flag is a symbol of freedom and not of political ideology. But it is specifically a symbol of American freedom embodied in our Republic. You can’t seperate the American flag from America.
Unfortunately, the people of Trevieres view their rescue by the Americans from the clutches of a sadistic madman as wholly righteous. But when Americans rescue the people of another nation from the clutches of another sadistic madman, it’s not a rescue at all, but something sinister.
Françoise Castel, a patron of Durosier’s cafe said it this way, "For us, that flag means liberty. Today in other parts of the world it represents more like an invader."
And Jean-Jacques Gravey, who puts an American flag in front of his house every June, says it’s "a recognition of the men who liberated us…a tribute to the American nation and the soldiers." Then, speaking of the war in Iraq, he says, "The war now seems to me more like an economic war for oil. Sixty years ago it was for peoples’ freedom."
When Sadam Hussein’s trial begins again in November, we’ll find out in great detail what life was like in Iraq for many, if not most, of it’s citizens, and it won’t be pretty. Contrary to what Mr. Gravey says, the liberation of Iraq is as much about their oil as the liberation of France in 1944 was about their wine.
I do appreciate their enthusiasm over the American flag, but on second thought, some California wine will do just fine.