In America, the flag is multi-faceted

By Jacob R. Wheeler
Sun editor
The following column was written by this newspaper’s founding editor. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of the entire Glen Arbor Sun staff.

Gracing the front page of this paper, as well as publications all over the United States this weekend, is the American flag –no-nonsense primary colors on a white background that invites citizens to gush with pride, or foreigners to blink with envy, the talk-show pundits would have us believe. Thirteen stripes represent the ultimate rebellion against colonial England, and 50 stars equal the number of states that sacrificed their independence to build an empire that bridges two oceans.
Recently, the flag has been used as the symbol of patriotism by an administration that feels threatened enough to promote a state of panic and invade a foreign country. To many, this war was based on premises that hold as much water as a leaky boat, as the government wrapped itself safely in the good old red, white and blue. And as we Americans gather at parades, flag-raisings and summer cookouts on this Fourth of July to gaze at our most visible symbol, people all over the world – some friends, some relatives, some random faces on television – will curse the Star Spangled Banner as the symbol of an arrogant and naïve empire that seeks to redraw regional maps and usher in a new era of unilateral global dominance with its bombs, economic persuasions and blind faith in its crusade.
Many of us direct our grievances at those who have made this country’s most recent foreign policy decisions – but not at the brave soldiers and the patriots before them who were willing to sacrifice everything for what they held to be true. The men and women of America’s armed forces must be supported, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Kosovo to Vietnam to Normandy. For they act on survival instincts in the harsh deserts and jungles, not like we who cling to theoretical moral principles while sitting on soft couches back in the heartland.
So support the troops, and hold dear the ideals and truths for which they fight. But think of what else the stars and stripes flapping in the wind mean to you, for a flag, first and foremost, represents the government that hoists it high atop its whitewashed capitol domes. In America, a land of variations and contradictions, the flag also represents a melting pot of people so diverse that anyone can and should feel at home here. From the bowels of China Town in San Francisco, where the aroma of pot stickers fills entire city blocks, to the Gay Pride parade in Greenwich Village, we Americans have reason to be proud, this weekend – that so much good, so many colors, and so many lifestyles can all fit under one flag.
In his Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, poet Wendell Berry writes, “Denounce the government and embrace / the flag. Hope to live in that free / republic for which it stands” Our freedom requires us to elect, and then question, our leaders.
So rise from your seat on the third base line at Wrigley Field and look out towards the ivy in centerfield with 30,000 others all anticipating the first pitch just moments away; Remember your great grandfather, the poor Dutch immigrant who worked the fields with his bare, bleeding hands until he had planted enough sod to build a family; Go back to that summer day when your Boy Scout troop leader taught you how to unfold the flag and hoist it high up pole without letting it touch the ground.
Many young Americans in my generation largely oppose our government’s decision to invade Iraq, based on logic that changes by the season, but that should not give us cause to curse our country, our flag or our culture, outright. I attended two major anti-war rallies this past winter — in Washington D.C. on January 18 along with half a million others (the largest war protest before a campaign even began, ever) and in San Francisco the day after our bombs began raining down on Baghdad.
Not once did I see a protestor burn an American flag. I asked a young woman at the Lincoln Memorial why no stars and stripes were going up in flames like they did during protests against the Vietnam War 30 years ago, and she told me that such was not our generation’s style. “We love this country rain or shine, through good times and hard times, and we will never stop fighting for its dignity or to help it make the right choices.”
Behold the trigger-happy politician or the reckless oil tycoon, who think freedom gives them the right to plunder for profit. But also behold the artist, for whom freedom of expression induces a masterpiece: Jackson Pollock dumping his paints haphazardly on the canvas, Jack Kerouac writing On the Road in the back of a pickup truck while crossing the Great Plains.
And never stop marching and crying out for what you believe in, for that flag,
This is the America I choose to know and love on Independence Day weekend.
Jacob Wheeler can be reached via e-mail at jacobrwheeler@hotmail.com