June 14, 2021- Today was Flag Day, an often overlooked commemoration of the adoption, on June 14, 1777, of the Stars and Stripes as our national pennant. The flag, to me, is something to be honoured and respected. I am proud to offer a salute, or to stand with my right hand over my heart, when it is presented at a public event. By extension, I will also stand in silent respect, if I am in another country, and ITS flag is similarly presented.
A candidate for local office has been showing a photograph that depicts his opponent waving a flag that is tattered, at a public event of a few years ago. If this is authentic, I object to that other candidate’s ignorance. If it is altered, the shame goes to the man who is showing it around. As for those who stomp on, burn or spit upon a national flag, this may be regarded by the judiciary as free speech, but it is no more worthy of respect than is a stream of profanity.
Flags may be symbols, yet symbolism has value. The most strenuous exercise, in the history of mankind, has produced a society which has slowly, often with excruciating pain, approached its stated ideals. Many of those ideals have yet to be fully realized, and there have been many times, which deserve to be acknowledged, studied and corrected, when the behaviour of the ruling class, and those underneath them, went counter to the stated guiding principles of our national experiment.
In my journey next month, Tulsa will be on the itinerary, on the way east, and Minneapolis will be on the route back west. My heart is heavy, yet hopeful, for this nation which will guide the world spiritually, in years to come, much as it has guided the world economically and politically, in times past.
The flag is a symbol-of the ideals towards which we work, perseveringly.
A Sagittarian Seeker 
I have a vague world, and I wander around, never sure of where I am or where I’m going. When we sang the “Pledge of Alliance” growing up, I mouthed it. I wasn’t there. In the army, you have to salute the flag at various times. I was more about the salute than the flag. I felt a strong sense of love in the army. It abated. I came out of the tunnel and back into the dark age.
As a wanderer, I’m never home. The mists surround me, and I hear the cries no one else does. I feel that the time has come to begin the ending the human race. We can do better and create the children of the stars.
I’m not proud of any flag in the world. They didn’t raise me to value it. When they did talk about the US, we’re white racists who oppress humanity, start wars, and pollute the planet. I guess that’s true, but it caused me to not manifest my reality properly.
People love to call me out on this while doing activities that they supposedly shun. “No Cruel or Unusual Punishment?”
We’ve entered a dark time in history now, where truth is defined by our lies. As usual with my kind, the anglo-saxons, we justify maintaining chaos and lies by judging the “good” from the “evil.”
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Only the Creator, not the creatures, knows who is truly good or evil. Most of us are a little of both. It is up to each of us to control ourselves.
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As a person coming of age in the 70s I remember the burning of the flag with war protests. It greatly disturbed my father. Even more agitating was the incorporation of the flag into clothing – particularly as patches on the seat of jeans… I suppose I am my fathers daughter in that I respect our flag. Yesterday had our flag flying. We could scarcely forget since FB and several other apps started reminding us of the day a week in advance and then relentlessly until the day arrived!!
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Yes, FB can be a relentless scold.
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I’ve burned a few. I don’t like any other country. I will say I had to wear one in the army on my uniform. The only thing that makes me mad is when people wear their uniforms after service around towns or cities in parts and pieces or to beg on the corner. I want a law against that! They can have a duffle bag and that’s it. I wasn’t a great soldier, what was left of me, but they drill the uniform into you, so it bothers me. It makes it look like they’re disgracing the uniform. If you’re a scumbag like me, you dress in rags or other tents. When I was crazy, I was covered in shake and period blood, but that was different. I got my hospital pjs soon enough. I”m not counting that. My hair did get me into trouble a lot. I should have cut it all off.
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I agree with you about not wearing the uniform after discharge. Only Reservists and retired military (in ceremonies) should have that right.
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