Monday, June 14, 2010

Today is Flag Day here in the United States.  It's not a major holiday here, postal service is not interrupted and businesses and schools are not closed.  It's just a reminder that our flag is special, just like your flag is special.

I am whatever you make me, nothing more. I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.... I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution. I am no more than you believe me to be and I am all that you believe I can be. I am whatever you make me, nothing more. ~Franklin Knight Lane

When I was a little girl, we flew the flag for the major holidays (Memorial day, 4th of July, Flag Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day) but not every day.  I had neighbors who had huge flagpoles and flew their flags all year long.  I thought that was cool.

We had a flag and a while ago flew it on the patriotic holidays but we seem to have fallen out of the habit.  People here fly flags of all sorts  celebrating a birth, graduation,  a season, anything really.  But the US flag seems to have fallen back into its obscurity.  After the bombings in September of 2001, flags were everywhere and if you didn't have one, you weren't a REAL patriotic American.

I just happened to remember this morning on my way into work.  I'm not wearing a flag pin nor am I flying a flag at home (it's supposed to rain and the flag is not supposed to fly in the rain or the dark without a spotlight).  The sight of my flag flying in the breeze can arouse deeply patriotic feelings in me and I have been known to shed a tear.  I know, it's weird but I am very sentimental.


And completely off topic, the evenstar issues continue.  It's a fine line between trying to find answers to problems and just rehashing disappointments and I'm not sure we're finding it.  I don't know what the solution to this mess is but I hope we find it soon.  It's draining and upsetting and trying to keep things in perspective can get your head bitten off.

Happy Monday, all.

8 comments:

roxie said...

Happy Flag Day, you all-American girl!

As for the Evenstar issuse, well, you ARE the moderator. Can you delete comments? Tell people to play nice or go home. And if they bite your head off, refuse to acknowledge them and block all further comments.

Some people simply do not knoow how to be civil.

amy said...

Oh, I just ought not to comment on the evenstar mess. I'm trying not to rubberneck too much. But business is business, and ought to be treated as such. I'm not happy when I pay for something and it's not at all what I expected, so I have a lot of sympathy for people who paid $8 to unwittingly be a test knitter.

Bezzie said...

You know, sounds unpatriotic of me, but I can't get sentimental over the American flag. But the Alaskan flag? I'm all over that. Eight stars of gold on a field of blue, Alaska's flag may it mean to you...

Jeanne said...

Sorry that the KAL is being so difficult - I hope it gets better..

And happy Flag Day!

Amy Lane said...

Happy flag day-- and thank you for explaining it to me!!!

Sheepish Annie said...

My parents still fly the flag and they do it by every rule. I hate to admit that I am not nearly so well-versed in the tradition as they are. I'm even wishing you a Happy Flag day late!!!

Anonymous said...

i get a bit nervous at flag flying, we dont do it much here and its the subject of controversy anyway, it still having a stupid union jack in the corner, but i know what you mean about getting sentimental! the KAL thing sounds like a nightmare now. i hate how people think they can just go off on forums, in ways they wouldnt in real life. nasty.

Saren Johnson said...

Flag Day is my brother's b-day. When I was younger I used to think how spiffy it was to have your b-day on a holiday like that.

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