She doesn't look like much when she hangs limp in the warm, thick late summer air so typical of Eastern North Carolina. But give her a breeze to cling to and her
wings spread wide enough to cover every man, woman and child in Onslow County or any other corner of this great land. Folded, she fits into the hands of a child or the combat-weary, bloodstained fists of Marines intent on
hoisting her after a hard fought battle. This lady goes to war for freedom as easily as she graces a school yard, inspiring hope where there has been none, courage when all seems lost and a promise that freedom is as real and
tangible as she is.
Unfurled, she lights up the sky, reassuring her children that evil is only the temporary by-product of tyrants and despots, but truth and justice prevail forever. She stands strong and beautiful over her
imperfect people, bending to no one, regal in her refusal to do so.
She's called many different things, like "Old Glory" or the "Stars and Bars," and she has touched the sky from the top of the world to the bottom in the best of
times and the worst. She's been there through it all, starting when the ground ran red with the blood of Americans breaking the bond with England, and then again when fighting side by side with our British cousins in two world
wars.
Over the years, she's been burned, cursed and spat upon by those who see her as a symbol of imperialism but aren't too proud to accept her helping hand. But she's as forgiving as she is magnificent and doesn't hold
grudges: She flies for the legions who take her for granted as well as for those who perished for love of her.
To many, she's a symbol of this vast and diverse country, but to those who've paid the ultimate price for the liberty
she represents, she's much, much more. Ask the threadbare farm boys who crossed the Delaware with her or the young men who fought vicious odds to hold the line in the Ardennes as she flew overhead. Ask the Marines who carried her
as they stumbled on frozen feet in the wasteland that was Korea or the Jews who saw her rise against the sky, a splash of hope when the walls of Hitler's concentration camps came tumbling down.
She isn't complicated, in fact
she's quite simple in her construction: a few stripes, a sprinkling of stars on a field of blue, and in that simplicity she carries a promise best voiced by Pres. John F. Kennedy, who once said:
"Let
every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."
Yes, she's much more
than just a symbol: She's the reflection of a people whose proud, unyielding spirit considers no price too great to keep her flying, free and strong. And she's more than just a flag: She's America's heart and soul, lovingly woven
in red, white and blue and raised to the heavens for all to see.
