Yesterday was Flag Day. I missed it and I imagine so did many of you. Of all the national things that we each hold sacred, our flag is not something we should miss or have our children miss. If we each still believe in the ideals of this republic then our flag is the standard bearer of our beliefs and even though we are busy, and it's a weekday and the kids have homework and they need to get to soccer practice, we ought to remember this day.
There was a time in our history when our flag was empty of experience. It had the symbolism of a united people and the expectation of greatness, but we were a young country and as yet we had little collective history.
The United States wasn’t even a year old when Continental Congress adopted the flag design on June 14th, 1777. But now, centuries later we remember that our flag is much more than red and white cloth stripes and symbolic stars in blue.
It’s everything that’s ever happened to this country and everything we’ve ever done. It’s victory and defeat. It’s protests and pageantry. It’s honor with humility and shame with remorse. It’s living and dying for principle.
A nation is not its flag. Our flag is the collective body and history of our nation. It’s not only the rights we are constitutionally guaranteed, but it’s also the personal human rights we embrace and grant to others through courtesy and compassion and character.
Above all the flag is our waving symbol for the entire world to see our courage, our liberty, our freedom and our belief in the God we trust.
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