The Fourth of July – Stars and Stripes and Political Division

  • Post published:07/05/2021
  • Post comments:4 Comments
Stars and Stripes and the NYT

A front page story of Sunday’s New York Times shows a young man, Peter Treiber, Jr., standing in front of his vegetable truck at a farmer’s market. The side of the truck was painted with our Stars and Stripes flag, a perfect design for the Fourth of July. But no one was stopping to buy his honey, wild bergamot or sunflowers. At last he stopped a customer to ask why no one was shopping with him. “She said, ‘Oh, you know, I wasn’t so sure about you. I thought you were some flag-waver something or other.” Mr. Treiber was not happy to think that our flag could have this dichotomy between the ways people now thought about our flag. Our Flag!

My husband and I know the stars and stripes flag was meant to join the colonies together. Why are people using the flag in such a negative way?  Well, there was only one thing to do. Henry put the NYTimes aside and set off to the always open Home Depot. It did not take long before he returned with a 3 x 5 Stars and Stripes flag. And the gadgets to attach it to the house. We will now fly our flag every day, and obey all the rules. I even found a list of the rules.

  • The flag should usually be displayed from sunrise to sunset.
  • The flag should be raised briskly.
  • The flag should be lowered ceremoniously.
  • The flag should never touch the ground.
  • The flag should not be flown in inclement weather unless it is an all-weather flag. The flag code allows for all-weather flags to be displayed in inclement weather.
  • According to the flag code, when the flag is raised or lowered as part of a ceremony as it passes by in parade or review, everyone, except those in …
  • The U.S. flag should never be dipped toward any person or object, nor should the flag ever touch anything beneath it.
  • The flag can be flown at home 24 hours a day, as long as it is “appropriately illuminated” during hours of darkness.

I did not learn all these rules when I was a Girl Scout, but the sundown lowering of the flag was always a solemn moment.

Eagle Scout Family – Father and Two Sons

I am sure our Eagle Scout grandsons know those rules. Indeed, our son-in-law Eagle Scout was the son of an Eagle Scout, and is now the father of two Eagle Scouts.

Eagle Scout dad put up the Stars and Stripes

My daughter and her husband just moved to the Dallas, Texas area. Their house is still in disarray, but they now display their American flag on their balcony for all to see. The  American flag belongs  to everyone.  This evening my husband and I took our constitutional and were delighted to see that others had set out their American flags.

“We the People” are the very first words in the The Constitution of the United States. ‘We the People’  —  that means you and me. It makes no reference anywhere to race, creed, political party or geographic region of the country. We the people are here to work with each other and make our country ever better over time.

 

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    This is a good reminder.

  2. Pat

    Lisa – Thanks for visiting. I am fortunate to live in a happy and friendly community, but we do need reminders from time to time.

  3. Kathryn Galbraith

    Pat~ Our flag was out as well. Surprising/disappointedly ours was the only one on our block.

  4. Pat

    Kathryn – We are very happy that our flag flies with others. For a small town, people do get het up about important issues and there is always a group gathered on the green on Saturday to make important issues known.

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