I am going to go on record as saying that I oppose burning
our nation’s flag. I am a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of
servicemen. Most my cousins have served or are serving in a branch of the
military. Many of my family members have fought bravely for this country.
Regardless of how I feel about the current political situation or whether I am
happy with the climate in America, I am proud of who am. I am an American.
I heard an interesting argument about burning the flag from
none other than Whoopi Goldberg. Apparently, the conversation took place on her
show, “The View”. I do not watch that show. Can’t stand it. Not because of her,
however, I just choose to steer clear of it. But I read an article with a synopsis of the
segment in it and, I kid you not, I had an AHA! moment. I finally understood
why someone would feel the need to burn the flag.
‘Actress Whoopi Goldberg got into a heated debate with her
co-hosts on The View this morning, arguing the merits of burning the American
flag.The hosts were reacting to President-elect Donald Trump's tweet in which
he said that flag-burners should be jailed and possibly be stripped of
citizenship. "The flag does not always represent all of its people-- All
of its people were not taken care of under our flag," Goldberg said. "People
are angry. They sometimes get angry and they burn the flag," she said. Co-host
Paula Faris said that flag-burners have the Constitutional right to do so,
but they often hate the United States, to which Goldberg adamantly disagreed:
"They don't hate this country. Stop saying that." "That's your
interpretation. It's like the person at the dinner table who's just complaining
about the food... if you don't like the food... just leave," Faris said. "Why
just leave? Why not just have something else that's on the table?"
Goldberg responded.’ You can watch the video here.
If I go to a restaurant with a group of my friends and order
a steak medium well, and it comes out charred, can I not complain? After all, I’m
paying for it. I ordered the steak to be cooked a different way. What if I didn’t
get steak at all? What if the waiter had brought me soup instead? And when I
asked for it to be fixed, he was rude and said no or only did so after I became
loud and asked for a manager. Do I not have the right to protest my bill? Why
can’t I leave a bad review on Yelp? Just because the other waiters that worked
there that night were phenomenal and didn’t mess up a single order all night
does that make up for the fact that mine brought me the wrong dish? Should I
not leave a bad review that might affect them just because of my bad
experience? I have every right to. I work hard for my money. When I go out to
spend it, I expect my food as I order it. I’m nice and polite to my wait staff,
so I expect them to be nice and polite to me. After all- they are in customer service. That’s kind of
their job. Now, because I went out with
a group, this horrible waiter, who never refilled any of our drinks and would
not split our bill for us, tacked on 18% gratuity. Why do I have to pay that?
Should it not be up to me if and how much I tip?
Turning this into a flag situation became easy for me once I
started thinking along those lines. After all, we pay taxes. We vote. We have a
right to expect that those elected to positions within our government will be
doing things with our best interests in mind. We have a right to expect that
our police will protect us, no matter our skin color. We have the right to hold
our government accountable and when it’s not performing to our high standards,
we have the right to protest it.
What I think those that are burning the flag don’t
understand is that it’s not just a piece of cloth that flies outside of a government
building. We don’t just wave it at the 4th of July parades or hang
if from our porches during the summer months. You don’t hurt the President when
you put a flame to Ole Glory. You stick a knife in the heart of the eight-year-old
kid who has the flag that was draped over his dad’s coffin, folded neatly into
a triangle, and put in a memorial box with a glass pane and a gold plate with
his dad’s name on it. You sucker punch the 48-year-old mother who watched as
her only child was taken from a plane, her casket covered by the stars and
stripes. You bring back the memories of dirt, blood, bombs, and flames as a
veteran relives pulling his childhood friend back behind cover, but it’s too
late. The body goes limp and he’s struggling to stay upright. For those of us
that lived through such tragedies as 9/11 and the attack on Pearl Harbor,
seeing the flag fly free reminds us that we are still here. We have not been
beat. There have been hundreds of times throughout our 240-year history that
our country has been in turmoil. But we do what we do best. We march
Washington, we elect different officials, we change laws, we kick ass if we
have to. And we do it all under the American flag.
Another interesting debate I seen was between The Blaze’s Tomi
Lahren and the host of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. It was regarding Colin
Kaepernick’s choice to kneel during the national anthem in protest of what he
deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United
States. "I am not going to stand up
to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of
color," Kaepernick told NFL Media. If you have ever seen any of Tomi’s
rants, you can about guess that she went off on what a little crybaby
Kaepernick was being and how disrespectful he is. Trevor then posed a really
thoughtful question; How should he protest? Now I want you to stop and think
about that for a moment. I don’t want you to debate on why he’s protesting. I want you to think about how he should do it. What he’s doing is reminiscent of sit ins that
took place in the 1960s. I would encourage you to watch the video.
They have a great conversation with a lot of thought provoking points. I will
throw in my two cents in the fact that I think Klaepernick lost his right to
protest when he chose not to exercise his constitutional right to vote. Sorry,
but you can’t complain if you aren’t willing to try and fix the problem.
All we need is another person blogging about the sad state
of political affairs in the U.S. today. I think what is making it such a huge
topic is that we have not seen unrest like this in 40 years. Not only do we
have a volatile political arena with half the nation unhappy, but racial
tensions are explosive, too. Throw in the threat of terrorists both foreign and
homegrown, the fear is palatable. We need to reach beyond our comfort zone and
try to imagine things from the opposite point of view. I’m not telling anyone
to compromise their morals or am trying to sway anyone in any certain
direction. Now, more than ever, we need understanding.
