Wearing and Flying the Flag

Earlier this week it was Canada Day (waving "Hello" to my Canadian friends), and tomorrow will be July 4th, Independence Day, here in the USA. These are days of celebration - basically large, nation-wide birthdays for our nations, and as such are celebrated throughout the country with feats, music, and often, fireworks. There will be a lot of flag-waving going on, and that sparked my interest in flags here in the USA. 

Want a flag? This place in Atlanta, Georgia has just the flag for you. 

We're a bit flag crazy here. It's not that other nations are less patriotic than we are, just that we tend to wave the flag, wear the flag, and post the flag everywhere here in the USA. Public buildings, of course - governmental halls of justice, etc - always fly the flag; always the federal flag, but also often the state flag and maybe the city one as well. But in the USA, businesses of all kinds as well as some individual people fly the national flag. The flag is everywhere. 

My own sticker is probably similar in size, but it is a
re-positionable static cling sticker that I have on the
lower passenger side front window. My car does wear
the flag, though, along with millions of others
throughout the USA. 

I admit that I have a flag sticker on my car's windshield. The sticker was given to me by an acquaintance right after 9/11. I put it on my car that day, and with the exception of moving it from my PT Cruiser to my Mazda CX-5 when I bought the new car, it's still there. I don't fly the flag at home often, but I actually do own a flag which was left in the house when we bought it, and there is a flagpole bracket near the front door. Other people in the neighborhood have individual flagpoles centrally located in their gardens and fly their flags daily. 

Abbie Hoffman wore a flag shirt in 1970. 

I remember people getting arrested in the 1960's for wearing the flag, or burning the flag during protests of the military draft and the Vietnam War. It's part of my personal history, not just something to look at with the curiosity of "Look at what those hippies were doing back then!" attitudes. A lot of people were arrested for desecrating the flag. Now wearing the flag barely causes a blink - the flag and its' image have become almost commonplace. Is this a good thing? Hard to say. 

The flag has become mainstream. Here's a flag
dress designed by Tommy Hilfiger. 

So, since tomorrow is a holiday (in spite of the fact that it's still my normal Wednesday "day off" and I'll still be shopping, doing laundry, and cleaning house while having to clean around my Hubby instead of on my own schedule) I won't be posting. I wish all of you a happy and safe Fourth of July, and I'll be back on Thursday. Enjoy your Tuesday and celebrate with your own families on Wednesday.