Flag Day Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Ramblin' with Roger

Remembering Francis Bellamy

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

From the Wikipedia:

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850–1898). The original “Pledge of Allegiance” was published in the September 8 issue of the popular children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.

Initially, it went like this: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds. As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it – knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans…
In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words “my Flag” to be changed to “the Flag of the United States”, so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the United States. The words “of America” were added a year later.

This addition does seem to make sense, as it specifies the oath. Unfortunately, as Now I Know notes, Bellamy was also responsible for the Bellamy Salute, which was…

…very similar to the traditional Roman one, which Benito Mussolini and then Adolf Hitler adopted for their own supporters. By the early 1940s, the symbolism of such a salute was not longer one of allegiance to the American flag, but rather to Nazi Germany. On December 22, 1942, the United States Congress adopted the Flag Code, dropping the Bellamy Salute from the Pledge of Allegiance, and replacing it with the instruction that the speaker place his or her right hand over his or her heart.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The “under God” phrase wasn’t added until 1954, well after Bellamy died.

Burn that flag

The question was “How should you dispose of a U.S. flag that’s beyond repair?”
Options were 1) Burn it 2) Shred it 3) Give it to your local government or American Legion Post to dispose of

One of the things I loved as a kid was flags. I decided that the US flag was one of the best, design-wise. You have your red, white and blue, the colors of both England, with whom we fought for independence, and France, who helped us achieve it. (Thanks, Lafayette.) After adding a star and a stripe for each state entering the union, someone figured out that we’d better stick to the 13 stripes and merely alter the number of stars.

But it is clear that not many folks have read Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code, which can be found here, among other places. (My guess is that most people have never heard of the US Code. That extra star provision is there. So is this: The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning, which I’ve noted before, probably.

Interesting piece I found:

I recently took a Flag Etiquette Quiz at another site. One of the questions concerned the proper disposal of the American flag. The question was “How should you dispose of a U.S. flag that’s beyond repair?”
Options were 1) Burn it 2) Shred it 3) Give it to your local government or American Legion Post to dispose of

The quiz gave the correct answer as “You should give a flag that’s beyond repair to your local government or American Legion Post to dispose of.” But my local government would not accept our old flag. What should I do to dispose of an old flag?

USA Flag Site Answer:

Their answer came from an incorrect interpretation of this sentence at the Federal Citizen Information Center of the U.S. General Services Administration (the GSA):

“American Legion Posts and local governments often have facilities to dispose of unserviceable flags.”

While that statement is true, it’s also true that they often have neither the facilities nor the knowledge… The only definitive answer is found in the US Code…

So if you’re one of those Americans who like to put out your flag, or have placed them in public settings – bridge overpasses seem to be particularly popular, in my observation – you might want to make sure the flags are still serviceable. Then dispose of those ratty old flags properly.
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Interesting conversation: Should Churches Display the American Flag in Their Sanctuaries? I’m in the NO camp.

Let’s party like it’s 1812!

Interestingly, both Canada and the United States “emerged from the War of 1812 with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity, having repelled multiple…invasions.”

In 1976, there was this big bicentennial celebration of the United States Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Currently, the country is in the midst of the sesquicentennial of various events during the American Civil War.

But what is being planned for the bicentennial of the War of 1812, which started on June 18? I’ve heard nothing, quite possibly because almost no American understands exactly what the heck it was all about.

The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including “trade restrictions brought about by Britain’s ongoing war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honour after humiliations on the high seas and possible American desire to annex Canada.” The British first engaged in military rope-a-dope, which allowed the US to gain “control over Lake Erie in 1813, seize parts of western Ontario, and end the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an independent Indian state in the Midwest under British sponsorship.”

But once the British dealt with Napoleon in 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending in three large invasion armies.” And if Americans know ANYTHING about the war, it is from this latter period. “The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington, D.C.” The image we have is of First Lady Dolley Madison saving the picture of George Washington from a burning White House.

“American victories in September 1814 and January 1815 repulsed all three British invasions in New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans.” Baltimore, of course, is where Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star-Spangled Banner, inspired by seeing the flag shown above. And New Orleans was codified in an old Johnny Horton song called The Battle of New Orleans [LISTEN!].

Interestingly, both Canada and the United States “emerged from the war with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity, having repelled multiple…invasions,” Canada from the US, and the US from Britain. This led, in the US, “a sense of euphoria over a ‘second war of independence’ against Britain. It ushered in an ‘Era of Good Feelings’ in which partisan animosity nearly vanished.” It also seemed to codify the “manifest destiny” drive to go “from sea to shining sea,” to quote a different American anthem.

At some level, it is this war that made a squawking bunch of states into a nation, back in the days when Congress actually declared war.
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The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture…[was] written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s defense of Moscow against Napoleon’s advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Interesting that music [LISTEN!] associated with the defeat of the erstwhile ally of the US has become a staple of US 4th of July celebrations.

Drop a Flag on that Barkeep

I became so incensed that, had I access to a baseball bat, I am afraid I might have started smashing the drinking glasses that hung over the barkeep’s head.

When I went to that conference I mentioned, there was some free time on the first two evenings. So I went to the bar to get a glass of wine. Somehow neither of the bartenders saw me initially, and I waited a bit longer than I should have, but eventually got served.

This sent me to a flashback to June 14, 1991. My Significant Other and I were in Boston to visit her mother and her brother. For reasons too complicated to describe here, we couldn’t stay at their house but had to stay at a hotel.

Since we were in town, we decided to see if, somehow, there were tickets to that night’s Red Sox-California Angels game. We seriously doubted it; Roger Clemens, the Red Sox ace hurler was on the mound against the one-handed pitching phenom Jim Abbott. Somehow, there were not only seats available, but we got to sit right behind home plate!

The game itself, which you can read about in this box score, was great. The Red Sox fell behind twice but came back to win 9-4. The play I remember most was in the 6th inning when Clemens threw over to 1st base several times to keep Dave Winfield from stealing; I don’t think he’d stolen a base all season. A throw gets past the first basemen, Winfield gets to second and eventually scores an unearned run.

So afterward, the SO and I check into a Holiday Inn not far from Fenway Park. We decide to go down to the bar to get drinks; she sat at a table, and I stood at the bar. And stood. And stood.

At least three times while I was standing there, the bartender acknowledged my presence with an index finger suggesting “Just a minute.” But people who came to the bar well after I did get served. And I became so incensed that, had I access to a baseball bat, I am afraid I might have started smashing the drinking glasses that hung over the barkeep’s head. (Probably not, but I DID envision it.)

Instead, livid, I complained to hotel management and later to my credit card company, to no great satisfaction, since he never REFUSED to serve me. It was a very sour ending to what had been a great night.

It is why I HATE ordering drinks at a crowded bar to this day. It just doesn’t follow the queue.

Flag Day QUESTIONS

Just in time for Flag Day.

I saw some poll (which, of course, I cannot locate currently) which asked people if they fly the American flag on certain occasions (Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, et al.). The results were 56-44 in the affirmative. What was surprising to me was that there was zero percent “don’t know/undecided” which always shows up in these things; maybe the pollsters attribute the non-responses to the yes/no responses.

I have no tradition of flying the flag. My parents didn’t when I was growing up, though I did note one at my mother’s house in recent years. Whereas my wife’s family put out their flag all the time.

I think part of my feeling about the flag derived from the Vietnam war era, where people who loved their country but opposed its war were told to “love it or leave it.” Well, I did/do love it, but never thought blind obedience to its activities was the right way to love. Would a parent show love for its child by agreeing to ice cream with every meal? But the “love or leave it” crowd seemed to, quite literally, be the flag wavers, seemingly leaving no room for dissent.

I was fascinated by a recent story in the local paper which seems to touch on my feelings:
VETS FOR PEACE SAY THE FLAG IS THEIRS, TOO
Elks lodge says group can’t march as themselves in June 19 parade

DENNIS YUSKO, STAFF WRITER
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2010

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A local Elks lodge’s decision to ban Veterans For Peace from identifying themselves in the city’s annual Flag Day Parade has some Saratoga County vets asking to whom the American flag belongs.

The Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge 161 will not allow members of VFP’s Saratoga Springs-Adirondack Chapter 147 to carry the banners or wear shirts with the group’s name in the June 19 parade. Members of the veterans peace group who wish to march in the parade would have to do so under flags of other veterans organizations, like Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion.

“If you want to protest the flag, you have 364 days a year to do it,” said Kenneth Tubbs, parade organizer and lecturing knight at the Elks lodge.

And I have to wonder, as the local paper’s editorial asks, how is supporting peace “protesting the flag”?

I was in a Bible study this past year, and someone of my “liberal” theological persuasion talked about how the liberal church should “reclaim the flag.” I think I’m wary of mixing church and state, not just in the American tradition of separating those, but from the whole historic sense of the church becoming co-opted by the state – “divine right of kings,” and the like.

The flag circa 1865-66, after Nevada, and before Nebraska became states.

All this said, I really like the United States flag. I like how it tells a story in its 13 stripes and 50 stars. I like how it got up to 15 stripes, and somebody said, “Nope, this isn’t going to work.” I like how the US Code has specific rules for how the stars would line up if we got more states. And I get testy when the flag is ill-used, especially by those who choose to honor it, yet fly some raggedy old thing, about which I’ve written before.

And I’m fascinated how the Daughter is excited about “America’s birthday” next month. She LOVES the flag, and I’ll do nothing to dissuade her.

All this to ask:
1. Do you own a flag of your country? (If you’re not from the US, please note.) I do own some small flags.
2. When, if ever, do you fly it? Here are the recommended days in the US. EASTER? I had no idea, and find that mildly disturbing.