Karen, Well I disagree with you on most of that, but what else is new. :^))
For the soldier, it has always been considered that the flag, is your country. It is the emblem that all of our military looks to as America when they are far from home. A proxy would be like wearing a sign around you neck that says, I am an American. The flag is more than that in the hearts of many people. We may not be around for much longer, and the nationalism we grew up under will become some kind of government of the entire world, which will end patriotism. After all, Star Trek can't be wrong. :^)
There was a time that I felt that bringing the body home was the honorable thing to do, but my view of the human body has changed over the years. What it is that makes a human special, is gone at the moment of death, and the body is just the vehicle that carried that essence around during the life span. There is little reason to get others killed just to retrieve a dead body. The person that his comrades knew, is gone, and bringing the body home makes no difference.
It's true that we have fought some wars we should not have been involved in, but that doesn't demean the courage of the individual soldier. If he feels correct in following that flag, we should have no recourse but to back him to the hilt.
Anyone that flies a dirty, or torn, flag is ignorant, which is wrong, even if he is too dumb to know better. It is easy to find out the proper flag protocol. A few years ago, I got teed off that people were leaving their flags flying during the night, and that all the car sales stores were flying garrison flags, which once was limited to being flown at military installations, and special government sights. I was informed that, since the flags of today are made from synthetic materials, and are not damaged by weather, it is now OK to fly them around the clock. So far, I have not heard why the garrison size flag can be flown by, of all parasites, used car salesmen.
The proper dispensation of a worn out flag, was to ceremoniously burn the flag in private. Sounds strange, but is far from burning one in anger. |
