You’re a Grand Old Flag

I took off work last friday so I could go with my oldest son to scout camp. Friday was to be a camp session, followed by an overnight camp-out. This particular camp gets double-duty from its space. Our troop camped on the gun safety classroom area. The troop across the road camped in the archery range (extra incentive to be up, packed, and out of the way before classes started Saturday morning!).

Friday night they had a twilight program at the main lodge which, in addition to the normal quota of scout humor, included some more somber elements. One, toward the end, was a ceremony for retiring a worn US flag. They began by calling for anyone in the audience who had served in the military or public safety (ie. law enforcement or fire/rescue) to come be part of the honor guard.

Then they began the ceremony. We, the audience, were called to attention. A group of explorer scouts brought out the flag, still folded, then unfolded the flag. Each of the honor guard, in turn, came forward and cut one of the stripes from the flag, then carefully placed it in the bonfire. The honor guard was varied, from men who had perhaps served in Vietnam or Korea to men who had served recently or were still in the reserve, to corrent police or fire fighters. The entire ceremony was conducted in somber silence, and the only scouts I saw fidgeting where the ones who had bonfire smoke blowing in their faces.

I was touched, especially as one gentleman placed his stripe in the fire, stood back, and saluted it as the flames consumed it.

It was a comforting reminder that, in spite of others’ best efforts, some of us still hold certain things sacred. I was taught early on that our flag is to be treated with respect, and I don’t intend to change now. If the practice dies with me…well, at least it died with me, and not during my watch.

I don’t think many Americans truly appreciate just how unique the United States of America truly is. No, we are not the lone democracy in the world, nor were we when we were born, but we have striven harder than nearly any other to advance that ideal throughout the world–even while failing to fully live up to that ideal at times. We have had our failures, but those failures are generally fewer and less than many other countries, even today. Or perhaps especially today. For all our faults, the idea of neighbor taking up arms against neighbor to force the other into accepting our will or die, is still foreign and abhorrent to us. Not to say it could never happen here, but it’s still some way off yet. But it does happen in other places, and often enough that we scarcely register it any more.

The American Flag still stands for something in the eyes of the world, and while unfortunately it’s sometimes our arrogant sports teams and tourists, it also stands for a nation to which the world can turn to keep the truly nasty nations of the world in check. There are nations for whom our flag is an offense, but in most cases this is for all the right reasons.

As Arnold Toynbee once said, “America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.” On the whole, our collective heart is in the right place, and I don’t think we truly appreciate our place in the world, or how the peoples of the world look to us. Are we the best nation on earth? Who knows? I just know that I’m fortunate to live here. America, as a nation and as a symbol, still means something. The symbols of our country should still mean something, too.

Thank you to those men and youths last Friday night for the powerful and touching reminder.