Did you know today is Flag Day? It comes around every June 14th. Even though my birthday is the next day, I almost always forget until I see someone else’s flag on their front porch. Then I rush home and dig mine out from wherever I stashed it on July 5th the year before.
I can’t blame myself entirely, though. If it has to do with patriotism, citizenship, shared responsibility to our country or anything to do with American exceptionalism, it isn’t taught in our schools (other than at private, Christian-schools and in home-school curriculums). More often than not, anything like this is actually demonized as being jingoistic and unenlightened.
Shame on us.
We proudly teach gay pride, Mexican pride, self pride and pride in being from any other country on the planet or in being anything different or unusual or unique. But our educators (for the most part) have purposely abandoned any teaching about what made this country such a magnet for all of those other individuals and groups who take so much pride in being from somewhere else.
I wonder. Do you take your hat off and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at ballgames? If you didn’t fly your flag today, why not? Do you even have a flag? (And no, an L.A. Lakers or USC Trojans car window flag doesn’t count.)
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