Memorial Day is a time for us to reflect about those who have died in the service of our country and to think about things American, like the flag. We have always treated the flag with great respect because it is the main symbol of our country. More and more we tend to desecrate the flag and many other things American as we continue to chip away at our culture. This weekend, American flags, around a park in Boston, were torn down, thrown into the garbage and set on fire by some vandal wishing to spoil Memorial Day for all of us.
All of us in America are immigrants, but in times past most became Americans and adapted to the new culture. Now with the influx of millions of immigrants the American culture is being severely threatened and the cultures of the immigrants playing a more dominant role,
We are losing our identity. Even the religion that was the basis for our way of government and founding documents is being challenged and deemphasized. The people who now inhabit our country are demonstrating less respect for authority and certainly no respect for many of the things we hold most sacred, such as the flag.
When I was in Jr. High I was honored, along with a classmate, to be the caretaker for our school’s American flag. Every morning we raised the flag on the pole in front of the school and brought it down when school ended for the day. We were taught that it was disrespectable and improper to fly the flag at night. We carefully folded the flag according to protocol and never allowed it to touch the ground. If there was even a hint of rain we were out the door to take down our precious flag. I loved for it to rain. It was a very important job and one that I took very seriously.
Now people use the flag for a tablecloth, as part of clothing, and a million other disrespectable things. They let it stay out in the rain and drag it on the ground. Burning the flag is now in vogue as a way to show disrespect.
I long for those days when John Wayne was our hero, we attended church on Sundays and respected our flag. You didn’t expect a handout but were proud to work and be a citizen. What old fashioned and outdated thoughts, I’m surprised that I am typing them on a computer rather than scribing them on parchment