By Stanley P. Gershbein
I am standing here looking at the Stars and Bars waving in the breeze across my terrace rail and I was just thinking - Old Glory, Stars and Stripes, the Colors - call it what you want. It’s the American Flag and today is Flag Day. Many years ago I was one of the few people on my block that owned a flag. I would display that four foot banner every Memorial Day, July 4th, and, of course, Flag Day. I would say Presidents’ Day but I go back to the time when we celebrated the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on two separate days and I displayed the colors on both. I now hang the flag from my terrace for the entire week, being careful to remove it in the evening and put it back in the morning as per proper flag protocol. I remember seeing flags at one house across the street and about five more up the block. That’s all. Then came 9/11. Everybody bought flags. We bought flags for our lapels. Flags hung from plastic brackets on the back door frames of our cars. Flags of all sizes hung from our windows, stoops, and porches. There were so many flags being sold that the flag manufacturers had a hard time keeping up with the demand. Then, as the sights of the two airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center and the scenes of people running from clouds of smoke on that horrific day drifted further back in our memories, so did our need to display our patriotic feelings. Now, please. I did not mean to imply that we are not patriotic. I am saying that we stopped displaying our feelings. There’s nothing wrong with displaying a symbol, a sign, an emblem …A FLAG … to remind us that despite the shortcomings, this is the greatest nation in the world. I know all about the millions of people from all over the planet who would gladly risk their lives to come here. I don’t know of one single person who wants to leave.
