This afternoon I did a double take when driving past a neighbor's house. I've driven past it for years now. For most of that time if I've paused to consider the house at all it has been to admire the flowers and beautiful landscaping. More recently it has been to count with wincing admiration the proliferation of lawn signs touting Obama, or other candidates who were more local if no less radical.
Today all the Obama signs were gone but for the first time in all the time I've lived here I saw an American flag there. It was attached to the side of their garage by staples or something.
Now, I'm making some assumptions about a connection between Obama's victory and their newfound patriotic sentiment, but I couldn't help remembering Michelle Obama's words earlier in the campaign about how she was proud of her country for the first time in her life.
I do not regard this new flag-waving (or flag stapling, as it were) as a positive development. Conservatives have refused to lower their flags for the same reason that they were flying them in the first place. Their affection for the flag reflects their loyalty to the "republic for which it stands," which is why the matter of who happens to be president has no bearing for them on whether or not to fly the flag.
I'm afraid that my neighbor's flag is displayed more as a token of their ideological victory than an expression of their abiding love of country. And in a few months time it will be hard to tell which is more tattered, shabby, and bleached of color: that pointed flag, or the administration that finally made it possible for my neighbors to display it.
1 comment:
It is sad to think that someone's patriotism and love of country hangs on the threads of whomever is in the Oval office.
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