subject: Let The Flag Wave [print this page] There's no doubt about it; flags are coolThere's no doubt about it; flags are cool. They show who's side your on, where you're from, or where you're going. I've attended international conventions where government flags have been displayed on name tags. From clear across the room, we could tell where a representative was from, and more importantly, what language they spoke. That made organization and problem solving a lot easier, since we could send the right attendant to assist, basically on sight.
When I was living in Japan several years ago, there was a promotion at a well-known hamburger chain where the player would scratch two random fields off of a twelve-field scratch and play card, revealing a partial image of a government flag underneath. Luckily, we had an atlas with a page displaying worldwide flags, and so we would take that along whenever we knew we were going to be stopping at that burger place. We ate a lot of free food and drink thanks to that reference on government flags.
Later, when I was teaching Japanese at a public junior high school, all of the language classrooms were adorned with the government flag representing the nation or nations that spoke the language they were teaching. With as wide-spread as Japanese was becoming at the time, I could have easily included Brazil and Hawaii in my classroom.
Being from Wyoming, I also have a lot of pride in my home state. We may be the least populated state in the Union, but we are the home of a lot of firsts, including women's suffrage and the first national park. Whenever I see the Wyoming State Flag, I have to admit I feel both the pangs of pride and the feeling that I'm at home and safe. I've even joked that I feel more patriotic to that flag than I do to our national flag.
Our flags tell our story, from the number of states in the Union to the way we feel about our patriotic principles. The tell when our states were founded and by whom. They inspire us and give us hope. When I sing the words of our national anthem and reflect on the feelings of Francis Scott Key upon seeing our flag flying victorious, I feel a gratitude and a joy that I really can't explain. It gives me hope that, in principle, we will carry on, and in spite of present difficulties, freedom will ring.
