Every year my family packs up and heads to Holden Island for the week for a little family fun in the sun. While we’re there we have the regular gift shops and restaurants we frequent and one day toward the end we go down to Myrtle Beach for the day to go shopping and maybe hit up the aquarium for a bit. On our way back last year we stopped at a seafood place for some fresh catch of the day and had to spend almost two hours waiting for a table. That would normally be far too long but the food was good and so we made some chit chat with other patrons to help the time go by.
It had stormed hard that day and as we talked I couldn’t help but notice the American flag out front had taken quite a beating. Like most people would I ignored it and kept talking. But about an hour into our wait I decided it couldn’t be ignored anymore. So I went over to see if there was anything to be done to fix it. Once at the flag it was apparent that it had been not only disheveled by the wind but improperly raised in the first place.
You might think it’s just a flag, but I know men who have died for that flag and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it be presented so poorly. My first thought was to tell the management of the place but they might just take it down and I personally would rather it was flown. So I brought down the flag and was trying very hard to get the top undone from the riser but it was stuck too high for me to reach without letting the flag touch the ground. And the flag should never touch the ground.
I had just about met my wits end when something profound and unexpected happened. Two men exited the crowd and walked over to help me. The older of the two men held the flag respectfully so it would not be tarnished by the muddy ground. The other man somewhat younger but still old enough to be my father provided his shoulder for support so I could reach up and disconnect the flag from its riser and untangle the mess of rope the wind had created. Then both men held the flag out tautly so I could reconnect it to the risers, and we all three helped slowly raise the flag back to its proper place where it could fly free and true.
After our flag was made right we all thanked each other and in conversation we learned that each of us were veterans. The older man had been in the Navy during WWII, the other had been and still was of course a Marine who had fought in Vietnam, and I being the youngest had served in the Middle East while in the Army. It is still of great interest to me looking back that out of all the people there that day it was three generations of veterans that came together to make sure old glory was flying right.
One might think she is just a flag but it isn’t the flag we were protecting that evening while we waited for dinner. It was all the things she stands for and represents. Imagine if we all took such pride in our expressions of patriotism. I challenge you to make it your habit of not looking the other way. And I challenge you to make yourself available when help is needed. But most of all I challenge you to never be afraid of showing your patriotism for our great nation.
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