At the top of the Hancock Building in Chicago is a bank of lights, just below the two giant radio towers. I saw when I was in Chicago this weekend that the lights now glow red, white and blue in three wide bands. I’ve found most of the flag displays over the last two weeks a little excessive, but for some reason I thought the Hancock lights were cool.
I think the American flag is great, and it means a lot to a lot of people. But the thing I fear is a sort of numbing effect. If every time you turn around, you see a flag in some form, doesn’t it begin to lose its meaning, its impact? That’s the effect I don’t want to see happen.
I understand how you feel. Sometimes it’s the things you aren’t expecting to see that touch you the most.
Somebody commented to me the other day that the flag is becoming a bit like a wreath of garlic about one’s neck, a talisman to ward off Bad Guys.
I’ve got a flag in front of my house. It’s a “solidarity” thing. But those folks who don’t have one, or who aren’t wearing r/w/b lapel pins or t-shirts or nose rings … I don’t look on them as atheistic slacker-traitors. I’m just a bit worried that there are (or will be) folks who do see them that way.
Well, I’m not wearing any flag paraphernalia, but if Dave can clue me in on where to find a red, white, & blue nosering, I’d happily sport one of those!
I don’t really think that all of the flags around town have a numbing effect. If you stop to think about it for a moment, I would say that back in the 50’s, it would have been very strange to pass a house without a flag in the front yard.
It seemed to me that in the mid 70’s, it started to not be so “cool” to be patriotic. I remember when saying the pledge in school was something important every day. Then it started to take a backseat, to the point where teachers really didn’t care if you stood up or if you stopped talking while it was being said. The ironic thing was that these same people who would talk during the pledge would get very upset when someone discussed flag burning. I tend to play devil’s advocate when we had those sorts of debates and boy did I get roasted every time I made a comment about that being someone’s right. Strange how patriotism appears in people, eh?
The flag is such a powerful symbol, and I think that some people forget this until we need something to rally around. When you see a mother or father get the flag from the top of their child’s coffin, do you get a lump in your throat? When an American athelete is standing at the top of the podium during the Olympics, does your heart feel pride as you watch the American flag be raised in the air? When the flag is burned or stomped on by American citizens, do you feel anger, yet in some way, you realize that is their right as an American citizen?
For now, people need some sort of symbol that says “We are here, we are united and you will not overcome us.” Do I see some of this patriotism going away? Probably. For some, ol’ glory will eventually be put in the garage, waiting for July 4th to be displayed. But for the time being, people are looking at the flag and using it for what it is, a symbol of our country, something to bring them comfort.