Of course, since the majority of American flag desecration seems to me to take place outside our borders, this amendment is going to be as effective at stopping flag-burning as a household sponge is at stopping a tsunami.
By the way, my personal philosophy has always been that if someone wants to burn a flag, fine. If, however, they try to burn MY flag, I will tear their arm off and shove it up their ass!
But I digress. I think there is a bigger issue here. Yesterday, on the 229th anniversary of our country’s birth, I happened to look up and down my street, and guess how many flags I saw being displayed?
Four. Including mine. This in a neighborhood of dozens of houses (there are more than twenty on my block alone).
I happen to believe that on The Fourth of July, perhaps more than any other holiday, houses NOT flying the American flag should be the exception, not the rule.
The problem is NOT that people in this country do not respect the flag. No, the problem is that people do not respect the American flag ENOUGH.
The flag is more than just the symbol of our country. It has been carried into battle on too many occasions to list. It flies over cemeteries, many of which came into existence because of those same battles. It flies over government buildings and sports stadiums alike. It is the constant reminder to all who see it that this is the United States of America. But when it comes to peoples’ homes, it is often absent.
And that is the problem. Most Americans rarely encounter the flag on a day-to-day basis. It therefore comes as a shock when they see people desecrating the flag. And they easily fall in step behind anyone who tries to do something to stop such actions from happening.
So fly your flag proudly! If it becomes more a part of our everyday lives, we may begin to pay less attention to those who desecrate it as a protest. And if flag desecration stops being the attention-getter it is today, the problem will take care of itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment