Speak Your Piece: The American flag is on fire
The news of the last five days was dominated by Los Angeles and the street protests against immigration authorities. Before the end of the day last Friday, June 6, the protesters had become an unruly mob that left chaos, lawlessness, and violence in its wake. And there was something else.
Someone stepped on and burned the American flag! A man came out of the sidelined crowd and threw the flag on top of flames in the street. He even gave the edge a little push to get it further into the fire. Unbelievably, he seemed proud of what he had done, even posing for a picture. Does he know about our flag?
I had seen the ugly sight of flag-burning on TV before, but this was an unusual scene. I was more disturbed about his apparent pride in what he had done. And certainly the rioting was an ugly backdrop to an ugly sight.
Flag Day is coming up on Saturday and we should celebrate the flag and all it stands for with family and friends. It would be a good day to remember the tests and trials our nation had to weather to get to the 21st century. All of it is “wrapped up” in our American flag!
One can see that the flag is not merely a piece of colorful cloth; it represents the founding principles of freedom, liberty, and justice, encompassing all that is good and beautiful about America.
And it represents those honorable men and women who served and serve, and those who sacrificed their lives on the “altar of freedom,” as Abraham Lincoln once said.
To the unknowing: The flag represents our rich American history; burning it is burning history.
Pat Wandling hosts Speak Your Piece, from which this commentary is adapted, weekdays at noon on WBCB 1490.
