The American Flag

When you see the American flag, what is the first thing that pops into your head? Is it a war? A relative? A political leader? What? For me, I usually think of the Star Spangled Banner. I grew up on a military base in Germany. If the flag were being raised or lowered, you would see soldiers, and even civilians, standing at attention, saluting the flag. In a parade, as the flag was being carried in front by one of the brigades, everyone held his or her hand over his or her heart as the flag passed that person. Even in the theaters, before the movie would start, the Star Spangled Banner would be played while scenes of American flags in battles and peacetime were on the screen and everyone would stand, either at attention or with hand over heart, as the song played out. This is how important the flag is to the United States. But, as we all know, there are hundreds of people who are constantly degrading the flag and other symbols of the USA. The flag should be respected because it is a symbol of the United States of America and because it represents our morals and values.

There are several ways in which one can disrespect a flag. For example, burning a flag is not just a decent way to destroy a flag once it is too tattered or torn. It's also one of the classic ways in which people degrade our flag. In the book Desecrating the American Flag by Robert Justin Goldstein, the Clinton administration assistant attorney general Walter Dellinger states in 1995: "For five years since the Johnson ruling, the flag has been left without any statutory protection against symbolic desecration. For five years, one thing, and only one thing, has stood between the flag and its routine desecration: the fact that the flag as a potent symbol of all that is best about our country, is justly cherished and revered by nearly all Americans..." If you are wondering what the Johnson ruling is all about, let me tell you. A man by the name of Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted of desecrating a flag in violation of Texas Law. He burned the flag rather than uttering insulting words, which would have been allowed under the first amendment. Burning a flag, according to Goldstein, is the preferred means of disposing of a flag "when it is such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display."

Burning a flag, as Johnson did, to express dissatisfaction with the policies of our country is the wrong way to express feeling. Other wrong ways to treat the flag is by spitting on, writing on, tearing up, or stepping on the flag.

You may be asking yourself, what would possess a person to do any physical harm to one of our country's most sacred objects? Well, as we saw in the Johnson case, it was because of his disgust in the USA's policies. Some may not only be disrespectful to the flag, but also to the political leaders in our country. Some may just be moral less. Others may think that desecrating the American flag would be a good way to show his or her un-patriotism.

We need to keep the flag in a state of honor. According to "Standards of Respect" written by Duane Streufert in November of 1994, there are several ways in which the flag can be honored. Here is a sheet that lists them all.

In addition to honoring the flag, we need to educate people on the history of our flag. How many of you know that Betsy Ross made the first flag? Well, if you know that Betsy Ross made the flag, you have been misled. According to David Eggenberger's book, Flags of the USA, "The grand total of provable facts in the Betsy Ross legend are: 1) that Betsy Ross was a patriot needle-woman of Philadelphia, twice widowed by the Revolutionary War; 2) that she made some Pennsylvania naval flags, receiving from the state Naval Board on May 29, 1777, fourteen pounds, twelve shillings, two pence." Eggenberger gives several different claims as to the origin of the flag but concludes with "this complete absence of evidence suggests that the flag had no single ancestor nor any one designer."

One more point is this: we need to have the up most respect for our country. This includes