Like all other sovereign nations, the United States of America has a flag that represents what this nation believes. Sure, there are protesters in many countries, including ours, who protest the flag and what it means to them. But for most Americans, our flag — the Stars and Stripes; the Star-Spangled Banner; the Red White and Blue; Old Glory — has powerful patriotic meanings.
I was raised in a home, in a community and in a time in our country that respected the flag, not only as a colorful banner representing the United States of America but also what it stood for, in America and worldwide. One day, my father asked his father (my grandfather) why he would fly the flag on random days. Grandpa would quickly explain that “any day was Flag Day.
” From the beginning, June 14, 1777, (Flag Day), when our flag was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, through the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and up through the war on terrorism, our flag sent a crucial message to the enemy: “We are the United States of America, a nation of proud, free people, living in a society that respects individual liberty. Don’t mess with us.” I remember my father, mother and uncles who were part of the “Greatest Generation” in the U.
S. military during World War II. Now, that group knew what the flag represented.
They personally fought to preserve the rights and privileges of the country that the flag stood for. No, that respect was not about any particular battle or war, not abou.
