It’s a Grand Ole Complicated Flag

We don’t have to think or look or feel or come from the same place or eat the same foods or speak the same language or love or worship in the same way. But we can all try our best to make our country a bit better by caring for those around us and chipping in our time and muscle to good causes. Let’s celebrate that this Flag Day.

Today is Flag Day. A day set aside to commemorate the act of the fledgling Congress that established the original plan for the design of the United States national flag. “The union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” Woodrow Wilson made the day a nationally recognized day 139 years after that act of Congress back in 1916. But why do we mark a day for a flag? We have plenty of other holidays commemorating the founding of our nation, significant figures in our nation’s history, and significant days to draw our remembrance. What value add does this particular holiday commemorating a rectangular piece of fabric hold in any practical sense?

I am certainly no expert on American history, but i do know a bit about the situation the country was facing when the motion was made to designate one unified flag design. Up until then, there were numerous flags flown over battle fields, and since a lot of the battles were fought by militias organized by regional or even ultra local leaders, each one might have their own banner to rally behind. In that sense, although each militia and regiment might have held some goals and aspirations in common with each other as they confronting the formidable British military forces, without one banner to gather around, in some significant ways each soldier was fighting their own battles rather than being unified around a central cause or central union.

That central and unified flags was a symbol of a greater principle: the idea of a unified nation. There is something so beautiful in believing in things larger than ourselves whether that be human goodness, Nature, God, the force of science, family, or country. But that beauty is enhanced so much for me when I think about the parallel but sometimes misunderstood concept of loyalty to the principles that the United States was founded upon.

Patriotism is an inherently messy concept. Political parties claim to be more patriotic than the others in their own definitions, people attempt to show their national pride by flying the flag that we recognize on this holiday in their car windows, on their bumpers, and on their front yards. Some people claim Nationalism to be the same thing as patriotism. And I’m honestly still trying to determine what true patriotism means to me, so I’m not going to offer a verdict here.

But I think in a very basic and general way, patriotism represents a desire for an organization—whether that be a family or a Nation—to be better and coupled with that is some level of commitment to contribute to that betterment. National news and politics grabs our attention so much these days because local newspapers and news stations are dwindling and iconic national news anchors thrive on grabbing our attention. But when push comes to shove, so much of what we can actually do to make our communities and ultimately our country as a whole better comes in very simple and small acts of service. Helping out at our local elementary school, serving on a city committee, volunteering to be the chair of our neighborhood association, organizing food drives, or cleaning up our neighborhood park.

These kinds of patriotic actions might not be flashy. They might not be life or death like the folks who were rallying around that original flag now 245 years ago. But they can represent the same ideals that were spurred behind the concept of having one central flag for all soldiers to rally around. The idea that we don’t have to think or look or feel or come from the same place or eat the same foods or speak the same language or love or worship in the same way. But we can all try our best to make our country a bit better by caring for those around us and chipping in our time and muscle to good causes. Let’s celebrate that today.