Flag01

If the American Flag could speak, I think this is what it might say:

I am your Flag, and I am proud to be your Flag. Together we live in the greatest nation in the world.

A free nation where I can fly freely in the breeze outside your home, on the street, in your schools and courthouses.

...I am not just a piece of brightly colored cloth, I am a symbol that represents something great. My red stripes indicate hardiness and courage. My white is a symbol of purity and innocence. The blue color is vigilance, perserverance, and justice.

I was in the hand of my first president in the blood and snow of Valley Forge. I was there when my nation was born - small, with a wilderness at her back and seas at her sides, and not one friendly neighbor to whom she, as a struggling infant orphan, could call for help in distress. I saw that child survive and grow strong. Most forget, but I still see in my memory those bright and brave young men and women who died at Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Coral Sea, Asian Jungles, throughout Europe, Korea, and Vietnam.

And when they died for me, I wrapped them in my love and draped my honor over their caskets.

Yes, I must speak because their voices have been silenced forever. I fly proudly over their green graves, praying that wars might end forever.

Never forgetting them, I rise every morning to watch over the graves of our finest, whose years were short but whose service was longer than we can ever measure.

I, the American Flag, have lived long, traveled far and endured much. A million lives and more were sacrificed to give me the right to speak.

...I am proud of my people's gifts to the world. For more than 200 years I have been packed in the trunks and suitcases of clergymen, doctors and educators. Together we traveled to Africa, China, India, Japan, and all parts of the earth to share the good life we enjoy in America.

Americans, be proud of our country! No country knows greater freedom than uor country.

You can climb any mountain! Possibilities? They're unlimited - except as you limit them with a cynical, bitter, negative attitude! Yes, when you see me in church, school or flying on the streets - listen to my stars and stripes as I cry out to every boy and girl, every man and woman. "Dream Your Dream" - "Dare To Belive" - "You Can Make It In America".

I am the American Flag.

Be humble enough to know where your glory and greatness come from.

"Old GLory," I'm called. What is my glory? My glory is the freedom that I give to every law respecting man, woman, and child.

I live in the hearts of all people who yearn for freedom to laugh, to love, to pray, to play, to marry and have children.

I have called out to countries, "Come to my shores and my side, all who are tired, poor, oppressed, and yearning to breathe free. Come and I will be Your guarantee of liberty."

I say to my people, "Be proud, be humble, and last, be renewed!"

...If you get a lump in your throat when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, or break out in a cold chill with goose pimples when I pass by waving freely, or tears shade your eyes when you sing "God Bless America", never think you aregetting sentimental or weak: no, that is a sign of being strong, loyal, and dedicated to a cause, a principal - "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all....."

By: Donald B. Corrick