“Our American Flag”
“In May, 1776, impressed by Betsy Ross’ handiwork, George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross, members of the Continental Congress, enlisted Betsy to make our first flag. The meeting took place in Ross’ home. The flag included 13 five-pointed stars. It was declared “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted our first national flag. (Makingaflag, paloaltoonline.com)
Over the last 250 years, the Stars and Stripes have evolved. On August 21, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower gave an executive order for the arrangement of 50 stars in nine rows staggered horizontally and 11 rows of stars staggered vertically. Our current, 27th version of the flag became official on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii was admitted to the union. (Jill Slater, Makingaflag, paloaltoonline.com)
As the last of the fireworks fades in our neighborhood and our three dogs finally settle down for the night, having wearied themselves (and us) barking at the numerous loud noises from multiple directions, I pause to consider the meaning of this July 4th holiday. We know it is all about family gatherings, hot dogs, hamburgers and lots of “eats”. We fly our flag proudly on this day, celebrating the birth of our nation, our democracy!
Our flag has three primary colors, red, white and blue. It is elegantly described by Jill Slater in the quotation above. The idea for the original flag, with thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing “a new constellation” lends credence to the idea that our forefathers believed they were creating something entirely new in the universe of nations. The first flag, and our flag today is meant to represent a new constellation placed in the stars of the heavens, signifying something new, bright and beautiful. Our nation is meant to be a beacon of light in the heavens, guiding others to a new way of freedom and democracy.
I researched how many stitches it takes to make a 3 foot by 5 foot flag. I could not find this information. The one that became the Star Spangled Banner was a 30 X 42 foot garrison flag. It was sown by Mary Pickersgill in the summer of 1813. It was made for Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. There was also sown a 17 X 25 foot storm flag for use in inclement weather. Mary Pickersgill and her assistants (which included three thirteen year old women(Eliza Young, Margaret Young and Grace Wisher))made these two flags. Rebecca Young, Pickersgill’s elderly mother, may have helped as well. (amhistory.si.edu – “Making the Flag”)
“Removing the banner’s linen backing, originally attached in 1914 during the first Smithsonian preservation effort, required removing two million stitches. Absent its backing the flag’s fragile state is readily revealed.” (Smithsonian Institution>American history>)
These flags, the first flag by Betsy Ross in 1776 and the flag which became the Star Spangled Banner sown in 1813 by Mary Pickersgill and the other (now kept in the Smithsonian) are both labors of love. According to record the last two flags took seven weeks to complete. It was all done by hand.
These two stories cause me to pause today and to give thanks for all the sacrifices by both women and men who have given so much to make out country great. I have always loved my country. Even as a teenager about to be drafted to Vietnam, I had resolved that I would go, for the love of my country, even if it meant my early demise in a war I did not understand in a place far away from my home.
Let us all be reminded today of the sacrifices of blood and treasure in the preservation of the liberties and democracy of our Republic. The famous question presented to Ben Franklin after the Continental Congress, “Have you given us a new monarchy or a republic?” was asked by an inquisitive woman outside the meeting hall. To which, Ben Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it!” (Bartleby.com)
It is the last phrase which should haunt us if we give away our liberties for something in their place. We are given “a republic, if we can keep it!”
I am reminded today that all of us in this United States of America came from somewhere else. This continent is only inhabited by persons who came from somewhere else. The Native American Indians crossed the land bridge from Asia and then spread southward. Or perhaps in some cases the Polynesians came north from South America after crossing the Pacific. Lief Erickson, the famous Viking settled first on Canadian shores some 500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. Europeans of many stripes, English, Dutch, Spanish and the French claimed territories in the New World, in places long civilized by the Native American tribes. We know of the demise of the Incas, the Aztecs and others to make way for the conquerors from Spain in Central and South America. In order to grow Indigo and Cotton, African slaves and those from the West Indies were placed in harsh servitude so some of us could prosper. Our founding Fathers did not address the issue of slavery, which smoldered for years, erupting finally in a great war which almost rent the fabric of the nation.
Since that time, following the southern reconstruction era, two world wars occurred, after which many immigrants fled for new life to the new world, many greeted as they came by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these the homeless, tempest tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (Inscription of the Statue of Liberty Poem) But in the west, Chinese immigrants came and those from Mexico were conscripted to help build this new nation. Following World War II, Japanese citizens were released from the camps on interments to become full citizens once again.
Following the war in the Pacific, soldiers brought home brides from the Philippines and other places. Following Vietnam, refugees fleeing war came to make a new home in this nation. Following trouble in so many parts of the world among those looking for new opportunities for their family and a new life have seen the arrival of other Africans, Greeks, immigrants from Ukraine and Russia. Jewish persons fleeing persecution in Russia and Germany have arrived. Cubans have come seeking a better life. Eastern Europeans, fleeing from life behind the Iron Curtain are among us. Indians from India, Somalians from Somali, Ethiopians from Ethiopia are all part of us now!
And now arrive Moslem s and Christians from many places, seeking opportunity, seeking freedom of worship and freedom of expression. Refugee crises from wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have fueled the latest round of those seeking a new place to live in peace. After 9-11, many in our nation are wary of new faces, fearing “terrorist among them.” And so, our new President stokes these fears and talks of building walls and closing access to some Muslim nations.
We all understand why many are afraid. But to live in fear and without hope for the future is against all our American values. Our values have always been to welcome and to assimilate new persons with new faces! Freedom and democracy belong to all people, even to those who do not yet understand how to receive it and to live in it. It is our sacred duty to educate them all and to welcome them all!
If we lose faith in the democratic ideal which has shaped our nation, “of the people, by the people and for the people,” we have lost ourselves. July 4th, 2017 is a most important day for our nation. It is a time for us to say we will not retreat into fear and into a new hiding place! It is a time for use to embrace one another, even those we do not understand, even those whom we fear greatly because we do not yet know who they are. If we open our arms to welcome and to embrace them, even when we are afraid, will we not overcome our fears and move our nation into a new place in a new world? Will we not by doing so both shape and embrace a new world?!
The only thing certain in this world as we know it today is change. Today is not yesterday. Neither is it tomorrow. We have the opportunity and the duty to shape tomorrow by what we do today! We cannot turn back into the past seeking refuge from today. We must embrace every day which God has given us, no matter how much we are afraid. Either we embrace our neighbor and our/their freedom or we lose our/their freedom! There is no other way for us to find new life. To run away is to flee into the way of death!
North Korea launches missile after missile because they are afraid. We have the power in this nation to destroy them and so many others, too. Or we could choose another way and begin a dialogue with our enemies, even as we did with Iran. Perhaps, as we have discovered in Vietnam our former enemy can become our friend. China is part of the key for this, but we are the other part. What will we do, wait for another missile to arrive on our shores or take the initiative to change an enemy into a friend?
This is not a time for new ideology. It is a time for democracy and freedom to prevail!
Today, on July 4th, 2017, I have said a new prayer for our President. I have asked our God to help him, to show him the right way, to help him find the way into freedom, democracy and peace. If he is our President then let him be our President! But let him be the President for all men, women and children in this nation, both citizens and non-citizens alike. Let us find a way to embrace our non-citizens and make them part of us, too! Our democratic, freedom loving nation has a heart big enough for all of us! Let us ask our God to show us the way, into a brighter future and new hope! Let us today resolve to forsake the darkness of our past and learn how once again to be the leader of the nations of the Free World! Let us become the Light to the Nations and once again embrace what we believe! May God help us! May our God bless the United States of America!
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight in the desert a highway for our God!” Yes, Lord, show us the way!
“Amen and Amen!”
Tweety Bird 