"Red, White, Blue"

US FLAG HUNG IN GALVESTON, TX AFTER HURRICANE IKE IN 2008

What does that Red, White and Blue mean to you?
Here's what it represents to me:
The United States of America.

That's it.
I see it. I think, "USA!"
Nothing else.

But yet, is that because it's everywhere?

Shirts, socks, pants, hats...
over buildings, on houses,
on the pole outside the school or
the post office...
Bumper stickers...
Billboards...
helmets, hard hats, heavy machinery...

I know why it appears on all of those
and many many many other places.
It represents something to someone.
American Pride? American made?
American honor? American sacrifice?

It's just a flag. Canada has one.
Israel has one. Trinidad and Tobago's got one.
It's a flag. It's just a flag!

There are certainly many of you
who view it more than that.
"It stands for ______"...
fill in the blank.

It unites... it unties...
"Old Glory"... pathetic.

I'm as patriotic as any American,
but when the symbol replaces the
ideal, then something is wrong.

SO, go ahead... burn it, tear it,
wipe your nose with it... I don't
care. It's just a flag. It's not
who America is. America isn't
a flag. America isn't a symbol.
The United States of America
is more than stars and stripes.

It's people who matter... not the
flag that represents them.