Stand Up

Stand up.

It’s the least I can do.

There…in the middle, raised above the others…the brass eagle with protective wings outspread atop the pole…

My flag comes down the aisle, carried by a veteran or active duty soldier or a Boy Scout.

My flag.

While the National Anthem plays and some in the crowd try to remember the words and the tune, I look at my flag and think about what it means to me.

Every school child has learned the basic symbolic meanings of the red, white, and blue and the stars and stripes. I wonder how many of them become adults who really think about what those symbols represent?

In my lifetime my flag has seen combat in Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan and been under fire all over the world. For us in this country it is a symbol of freedom, democracy, and promise. We have sent it to those countries to help the people there have a chance to know what it is like to determine for themselves what their lives should be. It hasn’t always been appreciated or understood…or sometimes even wanted.

My flag has also been among the first flags to arrive wherever rescue or aid have been needed—the aftermath of hurricane, flood, tornado, tsunami—disaster of any kind. My flag has brought food and water and shelter, medical supplies and heavy equipment, knowledge and know-how, and willingness to help.

My flag symbolizes a tradition, young by the world’s standards, of service to the promise that life should hold. My flag is a symbol of hope…hope that all that is the best of human endeavor might have a chance.

But it is only the symbol. When I stop and look at our national emblem, I let the red, white, and blue, the stars and stripes remind me of the men and women who wear it on their uniform sleeves. I remember that above all else, the Stars and Stripes symbolize their sacrifice.

And the least I can do is to

Stand up.