How does one respond to our flag’s theft by people who have no idea what it means? I practice non-violence, and I can’t do to them what they do to others.
I have to find my own way. I think I have.
Today, Maria and I made our statement. We fixed up the old and musty flagpole, got our flag in the mail, got some clips from the hardware store, and thanks to Maria, put up some new rope, and then ran our flag up the flagpole.
You don’t need to be a loud and rude boor in a truck to have a flag or show it proudly.
We are making a statement, a first for both of us. Neither one of us flew a flag before. I thought Tuesday would be a perfect day to start a new tradition: taking our flag back.
This flag does not belong to any single politician, candidate, or political ideology. It belongs to all of us. It says we are “All One,” and Maria made another flag saying that we will fly it along with the American flag tomorrow on Election Day this afternoon.
It is everyone’s flag, including the people who inspired it, the people who disagree, the people who differ. The flag is as much theirs as it is mine, and it is as much mine as it is theirs.
I love seeing this flag up there, flying over the farmhouse and our Southern pasture; it stirred my heart.
It is not about scaring or taunting or humiliating people. It is not about provoking or offending them.
It doesn’t just belong to angry political extremists who hate people who differ and hide behind the flag even as they defile it and it’s real meaning. It is certainly not about our President who uses it as wallpaper decoration and lies and defames its very meaning.
Henry Ward Beecher wrote about what the flag means: “if one asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him: it means all that the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, for liberty, and happiness, meant. Our flag carries American ideas, American history, and American feelings. This American flag was the safeguard of liberty. It was an ordinance of liberty by the people, for the people. That it meant, that it means, and, by the blessing of God, that it shall mean to the end of time.”
Is there any thinking human being who believes this is what our President or his flunkies in their pickups mean when they hang the flags all over their trucks?
The flag weeps over this slander. It does not mean driving campaign workers, many of them elderly, off a busy highway road. It does not mean giving passersby the finger. It does not mean trying to frighten or intimidate people or spray them with pepper gas as they walk along the street.
Part of the problem is those good people who really care about people and seldom show the flag. Sadly, the clods in those big trucks and people like them have, after all these glorious years, taunted it, given it a bad name.
I never thought to fly it; our flag is what white nationalists and Nazis carried in Charlottesville as they marched in their columns of hatred and basked in the approval of our leader.
We let it be stolen and crapped on.
I am guilty of this. I never fought for the flag or took it back.
When I see somebody roading past me on a big truck with a giant flag flapping out the back, I think this is somebody angry, who is flipping people like me the finger and using a flag to do it.
People like me need to fly the flag. So does everyone who loves America and is willing to fight in their own way to preserve what it means.
We have a right to it; we have an obligation to keep it from being exploited and used for cruel and fearful things. It should never be used to promote bigotry, frighten refugees and immigrants, push political opponents off the highway for kicks, or curse at voters waiting in long lines to vote, and try to block them from their rallies.
What are you flag-waving so people afraid of anyway? That you might lose an election? Is that our idea of what the flag means?
This flag stands for all kinds of people from all kinds of places. They must not co-opt it or deface it; my family knows what it means to get to America and live here safely and with dignity.
I got the idea for my flag while watching news videos of 100 pick-up trucks and SUVs festooned with American flags chase, surround, and try to run a Biden-Harris campaign bus off a highway in Texas.
The people inside the trucks, proud supporters of President Trump, tried to stop the bus on a busy highway. They surrounded it and shouted curses, threats, and taunts to the frightened campaign workers inside.
I don’t have to go to Texas to see these caravans; they race and beep and shout their way up the highway in front of our farm several times a day. Their use of the American flag always strikes me as unnatural; they have oversized flags flying on poles set up on the back of their pick-up.
It took me a while to understand the flags are not flying to honor America, they are a place to hide, a screen for cowards to use when going after people weaker than they are.
I’ve seen them spread pepper spray around some Black Lives Matter demonstrators and Biden supporters and seen them on TV blocking roads in Texas, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey.
Why I wonder, is that an argument for President Trump? And who sanctioned it?
They love American flags; they are everywhere on their trucks, boats, and SUVs. I admit this angered me. Is this what the flag is really about? Is this sad fate to become its destiny, what it really represents?
I seldom see American flags flying on the houses of the people I grew up with or most people who are not backing Donald Trump. What a shame.
Liberals and Democrats are embarrassed about the flag, I think; they too often see it used as a screen to justify buying assault rifles, taunting political opponents, and these days riding around making noise for the president or some other demagogue.
They’ve enabled people who are not patriotic to steal this flag and use it as a symbol of hatred and fear.
The flags in the caravans are part of an effort to make it look like the President is universally popular and patriotic; the people in trucks are happy to risk sickness and death to be near Donald Trump, a secret agent supporting the pandemic’s will to live.
I’m not a fighter.
I don’t wish to respond in kind, to bully them, to drive them off of the road, to frighten people who are simply expressing their own feelings and ideas, which is much more American than anything these people with their big flags are doing.
As if often the case with men, the flags are much more about testosterone than patriotism.
They embody the very opposite of freedom, inclusion, tolerance. Where does the Constitution, which they invoke continuously, sanction the bullying and endangering of fellow citizens carrying out their civic opportunities?
And what kind of President winks and giggles and cheers them on while his Zombie-fied followers chant for blood. The kind who proposes making criticism of Israel a criminal offense, but desecrating the flag is just good old fun.
When I think of those flags and President Trump’s rallies, I think of the scene in Frankenstein where the mob rushes up to the castle with their torches calling for the head of the monster.
I can’t see anything American about that.
Since I’m not a fighter and don’t own an assault rifle (my .22 would be too small for the men in the pickups), Maria and I decided to do the one thing and the best thing we can do.
We are taking our flag back. It’s our flag too.
They can’t have it all to themselves, not if they will despoil it in such a crude and stupid way. My revenge is simple: fly the flag on that old pole in the farmyard.
That says all I need to say.
I dedicate my new flag to my grandmother, who made it out of Russia in time at the risk of her life to give up everything she ever owned to get to America.
This flag is for you, Minnie Cohen, and to your brothers and sisters and mother and father and aunts and uncles and friends and teachers who fell to the Cossacks, and then to the Nazi’s after them.
They never made it America, which she told me one night was really the Promised Land for her.
The flag will fly every morning for you. I remember the small flag you kept wrapped up and hidden in your closet. My mother told me you were ashamed of how small it was.
The flag will also fly for the promise and dream of the real America, not the one honking and blocking traffic and scaring people in pick-up trucks, pretending to be the true Americans.
I went out at sunset and looked up at the flag and blew it a kiss, and then shed a tear over what has become of it.
You’re home now, I muttered. You belong here, and I came into the house.
Jon and Maria – that is the most wondrous flag pole and flag I have ever seen. That flag looks so crisp and proud!!!!
The late Brooke Astor had promised the MET her beautiful painting “FLAGS on FIFTH AVENUE” but did not have her chauffer deliver it or take it herself and then she passed and i think her relatives grabbed the painting.
We just sold our home where we had 2 American flags flying. We will do the same when we find our next home. It gives one a wonderful feeling.
What an eloquent post. Thank you Jon.
We fly our flag on federal holidays and whenever the hell else we want to. It is out there right now with the light on it. When the faux patriots try to take our flag as only theirs, they will not be able to. The same to those who feel God is only on their side when they are hateful and racist. I will not let them coopt God either.
Absolutely perfect ending post to a great series of pre-election posts. You have managed to do something no one else has been able to do, for me anyway. I hate to admit how little else I have followed politically as these last months have unfolded. AND I have enjoyed and been enriched by each and every one of them. Thank you so very much. I know its not over but it is an ending of sorts. As they say in firefighting, it’s time for the “mopping up” and I realize that will take quite a while. Your contribution has been so much appreciated.
With love and blessings,
Wendy
Good sentiments. One thing I recall from not long after 9-11 happened was an advertisement which said something like “they thought they could change America” and you see a street lined with houses. Then the next scene is that same photo with flags flying in front of each house, and the statement “they did”. That has stuck with me all these years. We came together then, how I wish we could come together for goodness, now, rather than be so divided by our current travesty of a president. I have great hopes for this election, but regardless, I’ll continue to try to live my life well and do good in my corner of the world. If we could all do that, we can change our country for the better.
So many good comments! Lots of expression for diversity and feeling peaceful with disagreement. I have political differences, and sometimes with people that I love. This is a statement of universal respect for our country. It is not about what party you support. It is a statement of appreciation for the country we live in, and ultimately for the planet we are lucky to live on. I talked with my husband and he is now on an errand to find some clips to fly our flag. Thanks to all who commented. It has given me a broader view of what our country can mean to all of us.
This post moved me. So often, I read your column and am grateful that there is someone out there who feels some of the same things I do.
I live about 5-6 miles from Bedlam Farm, and my road sees it’s share of pick up trucks with flags, too. We’ve had a rash of thefts this Summer & Fall, as it appears any signs that promote Biden (or local Democrats) are valuable & must be taken. The confederate flag hanging on the inside of a neighbors picture window gives me chills each time I drive by. Instead of political signs, I, too, decided to wave the American flag from our front porch this year. I purchased a new flag, tightened up the existing brackets, and have been proudly waving my countries colors. My husband dedicated 20 years of his life to the US Navy and knows what the word ‘patriotic’ really means. He put himself in harms way to give the right to every American to speak out. Even the ones we disagree with.
Thank you for the beautiful words regarding our flag, our country, and what it means to so many who have fled persecution & war. May the US once again be that beacon of hope to the world…
I started flying our flag for the same reason. I did wait until our Biden/Harris yard sign showed up since it has been so co-opted. My husband is a Vietnam veteran and both of our parents are veterans. The flag does not belong to just these people who flaunt it and try to use it to intimidate. This weekend I saw several homes flying the thin blue line flag with the trump flag underneath. No American flag in sight. My interpretation of that is as an explicit Fascist message and totally un-American as I understand it. Hopefully the election will be an unequivocal repudiation of trump.
I’ll have to read tjis later. Always enjoy your expression of life
I totally agree, and I started flying our flag all the time about a year ago. Having lived through the ’70s as a ‘young person’ I remember that flying the flag then implied a political position. Looking at Trump and his minions, I decided the flag was not going to be stolen from me again! And certainly not by the likes of him.
You have said it all Jon, those Trump supporters have demeaned the American flag that has stood proud and strong for many decades. Bring back those sacred ideals to the people and get back the country to a place of respect and humility. Tomorrow should be that beginning.
Wonderful post! Please fly the flag with all due respect.. if it is not illuminated do not fly at night, nor fly in bad weather. And when it becomes worn and frayed, dispose of it properly.You can ask you local VFW Post for the proper way to fly our stars and stripes and how to retire it.
We are on the same page, Jon. I hung a flag for the first time only a few days ago. TAKING BACK THE FLAG! I’m so tired of being angry whenever I see an American flag, so I’m flying it myself and hoping that one day soon I will be proud to be an American again.
Many thanks for all your informative posts about these turbulent times and insights on this important election. I can’t say enough how they helped to educate and put myself back to a better place day by day. I appreciate your words. Flag looks glorious flying on Bedlam Farm. United we stand, divided we fall.
Thank you for this and all of your penetrating essays for months. They have helped me level and keep me focused on what we can and cannot control. Seeing my flag on our front porch makes me smile every day.
Jon, the flag is a symbol of you honouring the United States of America. No-one can take that away from you. But when I hear and see Trump saying “Make America Great Again” I think to myself, he wrote that script four years ago and he has not made America great again. He has brought the stock market tumbling down on its knees, he’s separated hundreds of children from their families, the children now living in encampments on the border between the US & Mexico. Now that is not to say that some action had to be taken with those attempting to move from one country to another. But frankly, it was an inhumane way to go about it. And what happens now to these children. Will they be allowed to remain in the US? Who will pay for their support over the long run? Trump creates a mess then crows about it. The least he could have done this time round when campaigning was to write a new script. His words, his bellowing, is boring. We know what he hasn’t done. He hasn’t dealt with the Corona virus up front. He badmouths anyone who disagrees with him. He has alienated leaders of other countries. His claim of having Covid019 was to me a hoax, it was just another part of his re-election campaign, to say, I’ve had it, look at me now, I didn’t succumb to it. I’m strong. They left off the pancake makeup, got the helicopter in to fly him to Walter Reid, maybe one day someone will write a book about what Trump really did while he was in the White House. And imagine having to board up businesses on election day. Did this ever happen before Trump divided HIS America up?
Maybe when all this anger dies down that Trump has allowed and engendered, more people will fly flags and say, I believe in ‘my’ America.
Sandy Proudfoot
I have flown our flag for many years in honor of my 5 brothers who served in WWII. One brother was killed in Okinawa. I will continue to fly the flag in memory of them and their sacrifices.
Funny you talk about the flag in the very same way I have been thinking. I am flying mine today ( not something I am given to do). I started thinking about the big, loud truck diving folks that fly the flag and claim to own patriotisms. I came to realize that I too am a patriot. Why I almost conceded to the belief that flying the flag somehow was for extremists made me realize that I was allowing others to claim the flag that represents America for their beliefs. I voted and hung my flag. May others do the same.
The flag is for all Americans, regardless of what they believe. Personally, I don’t make assumptions about anyone who is flying it, because we honestly have no idea why they are doing it. It’s time to stop fighting each other and demonizing each other and recognize that, as Americans, we really are “all in this together.” And that our country would be a much better place if we could manage to treat each other with common decency. I’m glad you’re flying your flag!
This was a perfect post. My father’s family came over with the first settlers or so I’m told. However, my mother’s family fled Europe during World War I with absolutely nothing. Their house had been bombed in Belgium. Actually this was their third trip to America to live. My grandfather could not make up his mind – America or the old country. With age I now realize how hard his indecision must have been on my grandmother. Never to see her family again. The same for my grandfather. As they fled they ran between bombed out buildings, dead people and dead horses and hid under a boat for awhile to survive. America saved them and they prospered. As a child when I saw the flag raised or watched fireworks on July 4th, I was filled with pride. Pride for my family and pride for our great nation. Thank you for this post today.
You reminded me to fly my flag. I got it up mid-blog.
Thanks.
I had the same revelation a few months ago, and took the same action. A 5’ x 7’ American flag now flies alongside (though slightly higher than) my “Hate is not welcome here” and BLM flags. We need to take it back. Thank you for your eloquent plea. ?