For Flag Day, 2012

In any effort to understand or appreciate persons, nations or cultures there are "known" and "unknown" aspects. There are several old "wisdom sayings" that reflect this: "Still waters run, deep;" "you never can tell the depth of the well from the length of the handle of the pump;" "you can't tell a book by its cover," are some of these. As a way to form some appreciation of these deeper meanings we often use signs and symbols. And we recognize that some knowledge and "reflection time" are necessary to connect the more outwardly "known" with the more "unknown" aspects of persons and communities.

Our national "Flag Day" is once again arriving on June 14, 2012. On that day it will be 235 years since the Continental Congress of our then "fledgling" country adopted the basic design of our flag. It will be 63 years since President Truman signed into law the resolution of Congress establishing every June 14 as the official day to appreciate and celebrate the Stars and Stripes as our national symbol and its underlying meanings.

Meanings may tend to change over the years. With the passage of many years, the understanding and appreciation of original ideals may fade. Consistent or faithful adherence to them may wax and wane with personal, historical, political or social circumstance. Nevertheless, ideals that are bright enough, true enough, and which appeal to an inner common longing of the human spirit seem timeless in their ability to motivate and inspire in any circumstance. It has even often been the case that the most dire of circumstances have been the context of the most inspiring examples of human interaction and behavior.

So how fare these days the underlying meanings of our Stars and Stripes? And how tuned in are we citizens to the ideals they represent? For many here and in many parts of the world our flag remains a sign and symbol of a free society constructed around the conviction that persons are and of a right ought to be free; that all persons, regardless of their state or stage in life are intrinsically worthwhile and, as gifts of the Creator to our world, intrinsically worthy of respect.

Whenever a community recognizes the intrinsic value of each person as deriving from the Creator and therein embraces a culture of mutual honor, there seems to follow along a series of positive "side effects." Among these we might include a "built in" appreciation for different points of view. In the many speeches and debates leading up to the American Revolution we can see this theme expanding in several directions. And when the "vote for Independence" was finally secured, it was the intolerable frustration with the tyrant's efforts to twist the colonies into its own image that motivated the delegates of the Continental Congress toward their yes votes.

We recognize the often quoted saying (sometimes attributed to Voltaire in the 18th century): "I may disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it." We hear Thomas Paine, a powerful writer of the revolutionary era, recognizing a common yearning for freedom and inviting all those who "...oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth...Freedom hath been hunted round the globe...O receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind." In those same years we hear Thomas Jefferson comment: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

Adherence to these ideals implies an inner connection to something beyond and larger than measurable and immediate gratification. It implies an intellectual and emotional flexibility born of an appreciation that diversity and "difference" are really assets rather than liabilities. It is in fact the welcoming of variety into the intellectual and social "gene pool" that builds the overall strength and compassion of a community and helps provide the "creative grit" with which to develop constructive responses to challenges that may unexpectedly arise from any quarter. There are many examples of this. The Native American "Code Talkers," the expert skiing mountain regiment, and the female air transport pilots, all of World War II are three that come quickly to mind.

In our own times, the invisible ideals and meanings of our Flag challenge us to "see into the heart" rather than "judge by appearance;" to expand and strengthen our own ideas by making our best effort to understand and appreciate the thinking of others; to view free expression as a gift of the heart rather than a challenge to personal power. In its many appearances around the globe, our Stars and Stripes remains for many a symbol of this "social construction" where the intrinsic worth of each person is unassailable and enshrined in more than 250 years of tradition. It stands as a beacon of hope and promise that there really is and can be an "asylum" for "all those who yearn to be free."

Our responsibilities as members of the free society represented by our Flag are therefore great. A free nation can endure only insofar as its citizens dedicate themselves in their own personal lives to the invisible ideals upon which their nation is built. This personal "pursuit of virtue" is an inner quality. Without it the outer "institutions of freedom" and a "government of laws rather than men" would never exist or endure. Some components of this "inner task" include participation in the social/political process, education in current events or issues, and ongoing discussion/debate in mutually honoring ways.

Some may say, and perhaps with accuracy, that there has been tarnish on the ideals of the Flag. It is our manner of life as persons and as Americans that will be the energy that keeps those ideals bright and attractive, both for ourselves and others. This 235th anniversary of the Flag's adoption is a good time to recommit ourselves to those ideals and to also remember Thomas Jefferson's comment that "Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their government."

William Green is a Coeur d'Alene resident.