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Michael Webb's Weblog

A tribute to our flag and what we stand for

When Betsy agreed to create me, she probably did it to the pass the time and not to worry about what lay ahead for the colonies, or even her loved ones. Dangerous times, they were, as the talk of independence and the equally strong suppression that would occur at the end of a musket.

When our forefathers first fought under me during the Revolution, they may have wondered if they had started a fight they could not win.

I was defrocked and burned when the British burned Washington, DC.

Yet when I flew unafraid and in defiance in the heat of a bombardment, Francis Scott Key was so moved he wrote a song that stands to this day as a symbol of who and what we are.

Slowly I was unfurled and raised as then nation grew across this great land.

I was forced to watch at the horror as brother turned against brother in the Civil War; and my only consolation is that we have learned what we have learned and so many more are now free. Freedom from slavery started here, as did every type of freedom we know today.

I flew on the day the Panama Canal was opened; when Americans excelled where other had failed; and what many said cannot be done, was done.

If Orville and Wilbur Wright had a press agent, I would have flown at Kitty Hawk, even if the risk of a crash was (even more) inevitable.

I flew over the first automobile factory, and the land that has brought electricity, the telephone, the airplane, the car, the motorcycle, the radio, the television, the computer, the home mortgage; from an elitist luxury to an everyday commodity for anyone to own regardless of their status, color and creed. This idea did not come from somewhere else; my sons and daughters developed it here and spread it across the face of the planet.

When the world became mired under the fog of a Great War, I flew over the trenches of my native sons as they fought and died; and they turned the balance of power and helped to end a tragedy that was not of their doing. And I flew as the ticker tape flew when they returned home with nothing more than what hey had carried to war. And the world was at peace with our blood and sweat.

I was emblazoned on the side of the Spirit of St Louis when Lindbergh finally landed after a solo voyage across the Atlantic.

I watched as many great construction projects took place as the country tried to work out of its Great Depression, and we succeeded.

I fly over the USS Arizona, to this day; as a reminder of the loss of life from an unprovoked attack, and a beacon to show that this planet after all, is large enough for a few empires.

I bled and wept as the beaches turned crimson at places called "Omaha, Utah, Iwo Jima" where my sons and daughters fought and died again at a fight that was not their doing, but that a call for freedom could not go unheeded, no matter what the cost.

I flew over the encampments where the enemies of freedom finally laid down their arms, and it was by my children's toil that the world knew peace -- again.

I flew in the bitter cold when millions of Chinese troops came over the Yalu River one winter's night in Korea; and I stood as my sons stood, and even though they were vastly outnumbered, I found myself at the Chinese border when we had beaten them back in a silent victory that world prefers to forget.

I flew on "Slicks, Medivacs, and Gunships," and even though I NEVER saw defeat in battle in Viet Nam, I was led to believe that my sons and daughters had lost the war.

The truth is that when I fly, anywhere, I AM the victory, and not the biting words of those who do not know, or care to remember, what the price of freedom is.

I fly on the surface of the moon, where I was placed by men who carried the promise of a peaceful universe. No other flag flies there, a tribute to the vastness of that accomplishment.

I fly on the surface of Mars, where innovative scientists reflected the image of what America is really about as the Rover project sailed where other projects faded in the wreckage of a poor attempt to match our capabilities.

I've flown around the planets and provide the ONLY source of imagery that this world can see.

I flew alone when Berlin was encircled by an army. I fed the people and I dropped the candy for the children. And I covered more caskets when my sons returned home for their final sleep.

I flew over bases throughout Europe, sometimes without appreciation, as the people I protected had somehow forgotten that the Soviet Union had constructed a mechanized army designed to cross a water barrier ever few hundred kilometers. This was not the geography of their enemy to the East in Communist China, but the description of the topology of Europe. Without my sons and daughters prepared ever day for decades to the spectre of war, the European Union would not exist today.

I flew over an armada of ships surrounding Cuba when enemies of freedom had installed nuclear weapons less than 90 miles from my shore. Rather than think solely of my children and deal with this threat, I put the will of the world, which stood by, and negotiated a solution.

And still my sons came home in flag-covered caskets.

I flew over the proud nation, when, not a European leader, but American President Ronald Reagan, standing alone, called out to Gorbachev tear DOWN this wall! The world knows freedom again because my sons and daughters have the courage to call out for justice, no matter what the challenge ......or the cost.

I flew everywhere on September 12th, 2001, when the face of evil uncovered itself and murdered civilians in my homeland without provocation or any sign of humanity.

I flew as the Taliban cowered and ran from the Afghans they had enslaved.

I am tattooed in camouflage on the surface of the F-15 Eagle, the F-117 Stealth, the B1, the B2, the Prowler, the Abrams, the Patriot. I may not be stamped on the side of the 500-lb laser guided block of cement used to knock out planes and tanks, that are placed in neighborhoods to avoid destruction -– so that collateral damage is minimized, by evil people who care not for innocent lives, but I should be as -- a testament of that ingenuity and effect.

I flew as my sons and daughters, with a token of international help, and much chagrin, devastated the third largest army on earth. Yes, we could have let the little country of Kuwait disappear, but my memories of the what happened, after others sacrificed the Rhine and Czechoslovakia, and how I had to send many million of my sons and daughters back then to bail out our "Allies."

I flew as my sons and daughters returned to Iraq and ousted a tyrant and a regime of murder and oppression in the face of the whining of flaccid and corrupt governments and "world" organizations. Words have never, ever forced a tyrant to abdicate, but "boots on the ground" seemed to have had a more successful effect.

Before I first flew, there was no "freedom." My children escaped to come here from all the corners and all the countries of the world, who sought wealth and power by oppressing others and even their own.

I am the first sign of all that many take for granted, and I fly at a terrible cost that is forgotten when the sun sets on the day. I fly proudly over a nation that is comprised by an overwhelming majority of citizens who left their country for the promises I held forth and DELIVERED for my 200+ years; and all I asked for was an oath to honor and protect for what I stand for, and for what many before had died for.

Today I fly over locations in numerous countries, where my children are sent as policemen and peacekeepers. I am a sign of hope ready to deploy anywhere people cry out for freedom. My sons die while other prognosticate and debate in (an expensive) serenity on my shores; I fly in silence as the accounts of corruption and greed from other "worldly nations" take root and they show the true color of their face.

As many debate and ridicule my leaders, they live in the comfort of a peaceful world that my children brought forth, as the millions of little white gravestones that dot the world's numerous battlefield graveyards will show.

Not always in battle, I flew over Lance Armstrong, who embodies the spirit of my colors as he has won his sixth consecutive Tour De France. Did the world embody his effort, or did they accuse him of doping like the whiners they are? I was tattooed on body the C5R Corvette Team which won their fourth consecutive Le Mans. Not many stories about how Ferrari spent millions of dollars and built a car solely to beat the Corvette, which was a fruitless effort. I will fly high at the Olympics, and I will not get the respect I deserve.

But I'm used to it; for I stand tall and with pride, and I don't need the rest of the world, they need ME.

When I am carefully folded in a military funeral, I am a symbol: first for life, second for eternal life; third as a sign of our own weakness and our need for God; then for the fourth fold towards our heart for the pledge we take; then once again as a tribute for our armed forces; then a fold for the Christ and his promise; followed by a fold for the honor of womanhood, to the Mother of my children, followed by a fold for every Father, followed by a fold for the stars of the original 13 colonies, followed by a fold for Hebrew, and then a fold for Christianity. The finished triangle is the lower portion of the Star of David, it's also the shape of a cocked hat from the Revolutionary War, with stars facing out towards Heaven and the motto "In God we Trust." And a warrior kneels before a grieving spouse, sibling, parent of child, and with carefully prepared words presents me and recognizes on behalf of a grieving nation the terrible cost of this sacrifice.

My colors, of Red White and Blue, my Stripes and Stars; they mean something. Not officially, but it's there.

White is for purity and innocence, for which must protect at all costs. Red is for Hardiness and Valor, the same color of the blood we have spilled; and Blue is for Vigilance, Perseverance, and Justice. My stripes are like rays of light from the sun, and my stars are a sign of the heavens and divinity we all strive for. All seem to be just "words," but many have defended those words at a horrible cost.

I am "Old Glory," the "Star-Spangled Banner," the "old Red, White and Blue," "Starts and Stripes Forever." I am the United States of America, land of the free, and the home of the brave...and don't you ever, ever forget that. ( Aug 11 2004, 03:36:09 PM CDT ) Permalink Comments [1]