flag – Pursuit of Liberty

A New View on the Flag and Pledge of Allegiance

Warning: Undefined array key "adf" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 69

Warning: Undefined array key "sim_pages" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 70

photo credit: eschipul

I had some interesting thoughts this morning after reading an article I would normally not bother to read. It was talking about a specific historical flag, but my thoughts were turned to the flag generally and then to the Pledge of Allegiance. Here’s the statement that got my brain moving:

The flag is an American flag — 13 stripes, a blue square canton with 13 white stars surrounding an American bald eagle. So far, this flag isn’t strange for its day. In the 19th century, almost anything goes in handmade national flags. (emphasis added)

Suddenly I am released from the idea of a standardized flag and considering the flag more abstractly as a representation of something to believe in. The nation represented by all those handmade national flags was the same, and the symbolism of that nation was consistent across flags (stars, stripes, red, white, and blue), but people felt free to add things to the flag that helped represent their feelings regarding the nation (an American bald eagle in the field of blue being an apparently common addition back then).

The Other Side of the Sentiment

As I was walking to the bus stop this morning I saw an image attached to the garage door of one of my neighbors.

I’ve heard/seen that sentiment before, but with all my thinking about the flag and the meaning of patriotism lately it struck me differently. I appreciate the sentiment that we are not a nation that is afraid to stand up for what is right and to stick to a difficult task, but I think this sentiment cuts both ways. These colors should not run to create strife any more than they should run from an appropriate struggle. We have too much talk from the right about how strong the military is and ought to be. Instead we should be happy that our military is strong, and work on our nation to make sure it is worthy of such strength.