The Third Year I Won't Be Flying Old Glory
I've always loved Flag Day, don't know why. Maybe 'cause it's the 1st "holiday" after school lets out(it was where I grew up). Maybe 'cause it signals Independence Day is just around the corner.
I wore a lot of red, white & blue as a little kid, especially in the summer. Even though the Vietnam War was unpopular in our house, summer was bar-b-q, fireworks, and boating on the lake decked out in multiple combination of those colors. I couldn't wait to decorate my bike with crape paper, make paper chains, and stick a little flag with stars & stripes in the middle of the handle bars.
In 2000, I moved into a house with a flag pole holder already attached to the porch. Being late July, I waited until the Labor Day rush to buy a shiny new nylon flag of the United States of America. I dutifully brought the flag in when it rained or when the wind became too gusty. It was was lit at night, and I'd read that you didn't have to lower a flag at night if it was lit. My neighbors also had flags, mostly up for holidays. An older neighborhood for the Midwest, we averaged about 7 flags in 2 short blocks.
More flags showed up after September 11, 2001.
I moved to a much smaller town November that same year. Many more flags waving than I seen on previous visits(before 9/11/01), and I raised my flag at my new place.
Late March, 2003, I lowered my flag of the United States of America, and have not since raised it. I have a tiny flag that I keep on my desk, to remind me of the pledge I used to speak, then later take daily. At the time I didn't know that the Pledge had been changed because of the Red Scare, and by the DAR even earlier. Today I honor that pledge, without the
addenda.
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I think I'll include the original "with
equality, liberty and justice for all." now that I know about it.
Chinquapin(working to reclaim the "...land of the free and the home of the brave.")
Posted by chinquapin2
at 11:08 PM PDT
