Face the Flag

           For several days, I had the honor and privilege of being surrounded by people of integrity and courage. These men and women have suffered loss and endured sacrifice in a way that most will never know. In the coming days I will elaborate on this further, but for now, I will carve out one portion of my overall thought on this. Dealing with a concept that is not foreign to my archetype and should, by all rites, proliferate through every person that lives within these protected shores. What saddens and sickens me the most is the percentage of individuals in this country that do not share my passion. It’s quite revolting to me and my sensibilities. Before we dive into this editorial of sorts, we will start out with a lesson in history, enjoy.

           On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union is thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. "Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year. While scholars still argue about this, tradition holds that the new flag was first hoisted in June 1777 by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment. 

The first official U.S. flag flown during a battle was on August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler (Fort Stanwix) during the Siege of Fort Stanwix. Massachusetts reinforcements brought news of the adoption by Congress of the official flag to Fort Schuyler. Soldiers cut up their shirts to make the white stripes; scarlet material to form the red was secured from red flannel petticoats of officers' wives, while material for the blue union was secured from Capt. Abraham Swartwout's blue cloth coat. A voucher is extant that Capt. Swartwout of Dutchess County was paid by Congress for his coat for the flag.           

           “Thomas?”, you might ask, “Where are you going with this now that the brief history lesson is over?” Well, funny you should ask such a question. Let me explain it to you over the course of several hundred words. Americans pride themselves on have an exorbitant amount of freedom and to be frank, the luxury of choice. The tragedy here, and it’s criminal if you ask me, too few Americans appreciate that fact. They have no concept of what it took to establish those freedoms let alone what is needed to protect those freedoms. These people spit and curse upon those who do and use words like racist and fascist to describe us. They protest in earnest for a cause that most of them don’t understand. They regurgitate a misguided, poorly defined and a broken idea of a poorly written statement of purpose that on its face, it contradictory at best. They have become the other heard of sheep. Mindless, following the group without an original thought to answer that final jeopardy question.

           Please, do not assume that I am anti first amendment or that I feel there should be censorship. I am a photojournalist, so this would be quite contradictory to my profession. However, I do believe that we should not entertain certain things in the process of exercising one's right to express themselves. This conceptual idea coincides with my belief that just because you can do a thing, doesn’t mean you should do a thing. I refer to this process as intelligent restraint. Again, I take time to consider the people who populate this country and realize that it’s a fool’s wish to expect more, yet I do, only a daily basis. I’m quite amazed I haven’t turned to alcohol and cocaine to ease my mental anguish. For those of you who are new to my work, I sometimes digress and can be somewhat cryptic so that I will apologize for that now. I will now get on with putting meat on this bone.

           In the simplest of terms, to everyone who uses the guise of first amendment freedoms, start standing for this nation’s anthem and stop burn the American Flag as a form of protest you dumb mother fuckers. These people, and you know exactly who I’m referring to, would lose their minds if I were to walk down the street and burn the Black Lives Matter battle flag, The Mexican Flag, or the flag of a country that is predominantly Muslim. The populous would crucify me on social media. People word use words out of context to describe me and my supposed mindset. I would receive hateful messages and possibly death threats, and in the end, I would be expected to apologize for my "offensive" actions. This example is just one of many that proliferate the hypocrisy that has infected our daily lives. Of course, these are the same people who expect a monthly handout for doing nothing in the way of being a productive citizen. Go figure; the have nots condemning the have lots of being successful and expressing their viewpoints. 

           For the people who would commit the vile and putrid act of desecrating the American Flag, I have no use for you. You obviously have no concept of patriotism. You have no understanding of what sacrifice is, and the thought of defending this nation with your life is an alien concept to you. On any given day, I would conclude, that you would cut and run at the first sign of threat while people like me would dig in and defend you, even after you’ve spat in my face. Hey Colin, how is the job search going you jackass? If you dislike this country so much that you feel you must burn the flag, just leave and take up residence in another faraway land. This country would be better off without you. Oh, before I forget, if you live within these borders and you call the United States your home, I have news for you, he is your President, for better or worse. Stop hoping he fails and do something to help him succeed, the ending to that story benefits everyone.

Men and women have fought and died with honor for the birth and preservation of this nation. They gave their lives, not in vain but for an ideal, a concept of the warrior’s ethos that too few know and fewer understand. When a person makes the conscious decision to defile the American Flag or, not stand for our nation’s anthem, you dishonor these men and woman. You dishonor their memory and what they stand for. I take that very personally. These individuals will stand and fight for those of you who cannot fight for yourself and in some cases, for those who just will not fight and stand for nothing. Do not let your narrow frame of reference or misguided ideas be the catalyst for dishonoring their memory and what they have sacrificed and are still fighting for today.

           Time passes and waits for no one and over the decades, and indeed centuries, our beautiful flag has undergone several transformations to what we now display proudly. Thirteen stripes of red and white emboldened with a sea of blue contrasting the white stars that symbolize the fifty states of our union. This symbol is a direct representation of not only our past but where we should stand today in the present, and where we hope to be as we catapult into the future. Unified as one great nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.