My mother made an observation the other day that slightly agitated her: she said no one was displaying the American flag on their homes anymore, least of all in our town.
So when I got out of work early today for the long holiday weekend, I decided to take my usual bike ride around the surrounding neighborhoods and see for myself.
Yup, she was right. Americans today are perfectly fine with letting their freak flags fly, but the American flag? Not so much. Out of the 200 or so houses that I passed on my usual route, I counted two that had flags attached to them. Another property had a gigantic flagpole and flag flapping away on it, and a fourth house had some sort of patriotic looking wreath made of red, white, and blue flowers if that counts. That’s a return flag rate of 2%.
My mother said it used to be everyone brought out their house flags for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Flag Day holidays. In wondering what happened to our nation’s patriotism, I came to a few conclusions. They are:
1. First of all...no, scratch that. The answer is no one gives a shit anymore. I’m sorry to drop the s-bomb on what I consider to be a PG rated blog, but honesty sometimes calls for honest language. And there are several reasons why we don’t care about Old Glory anymore.
Never before in U.S. history has America been looked more down upon. We’re essentially the Charlie Brown of the planet’s nations right now. We’re still dealing with a high unemployment rate, a lack of jobs, two wars, and the worst environmental disaster in known to man. Also, nothing is being made in America anymore. Well, maybe not nothing….guitar strings and other accessories are still being made in America, even though the actual guitars, including my Ibanez, are being manufactured in China. I only know this because I have a guitar. Toothpicks are still being made in America. Staples are made here. You get the idea. Why, I remember someone saying that they purchased an American flag a few years ago and was shocked to see on the label that it was made in China!
My mother, on the other hand, got married right after World War II – a time when America was awfully proud to be America. We’d just defeated evil, baby making was booming, jobs were growing, and it was a wonderful time to be alive.
So it’s no surprise that our patriotism has taken a kick to the crotch the past couple of decades. We’re a pretty depressed nation right now. I also don’t think the tradition of hanging out the flag has been passed on to newer generations. I’m not faulting anyone for failing to put out a flag on patriotic holidays because to be honest, if I had my own place right now it probably wouldn’t have even occurred to me to make a trip to the nearest hardware or home store and pick up a flag.
Except that I have a mother from the World War II generation who mentioned it. So, add American flag to the list of things I still need when I find the mid-century house of my dreams in my price range.
Happy Fourth of July!
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