serum114

I LOVE TO BURN THE FLAG

by Neal Pollack
11.01.98

ONE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY, when I was ten years old, my father called me outside. He was barbecuing ribs in the backyard.


"Son," he said, "there's something I want to give you."


Dad handed me a long cardboard box. I opened it to find a full-sized handmade American flag inside. I pressed it against my face. It felt soft and fresh.


"Dad," I gasped. "This is…incredible!"

"Read the note," he said.

Attached to the box was a little card. "Throw the flag on the grill," it read.

"Very funny, Dad," I said.

"I'm serious, son," he said. "I want you to put the flag on the barbecue."

"But…" I said. "The flag will burn!"

"That's the point," he said.

"I can't burn the flag! It's the symbol of everything our country stands for! My ancestors fought and died for this flag! It represents the hopes and dreams of—"

"Save the grade-school propaganda for later," Dad said. "And do what I say…"


Tears in my eyes, I placed the Star Spangled Banner over the burning coals. Soon, it was completely aflame, red-white-and-blue consumed in a blistering blaze of orange.


Dad had his hand over his heart. He was softly humming God Bless America.


"That's what this country is all about," he said. "That flag is worth nothing if a man can't burn it in his own backyard. It is a sacred American right."


I stared at the wisps of smoke coming off the grill in wonder, and in my heart, knew my dad was right.

After that, my family barbecued at least one flag every year, and I grew to love the ritual. Sometimes the stars would ignite first, sometimes the stripes. Sometimes, the whole thing would go up in a blaze of Old Glory. When it was all done, we'd have a picnic of burgers, fresh corn and cole slaw and laugh well into the night. One summer, all our neighbors came over with their own flags and we had a big community flag bonfire, melting marshmallows over the flames and making s'mores while "Disco Inferno" played on the hi-fi.


When I left home and went to college, I started burning my own flags. My friends and I would spend hours listening to jazz, talking about Russian novels, and burning flags in our dorm rooms. We developed an affectation of wearing tri-cornered hats colored like the flag, and lighting them on fire in the cafeteria.


I became politically active and joined several radical organizations. But when these groups to which I belonged would burn a flag in protest of some U.S. foreign policy or another, my stomach would churn. To me, flag-burning was a private, family affair. It was about friendship and trust. I didn't want it sullied by vitriol, however justified, about the Reagan Administration's incursions into Central America.


Now I hear Republicans in Congress are again threatening to deny Americans one of their most cherished freedoms—burning the flag. I think about my father, older now but still dedicated to crisping a flag in the backyard at least once a year. I think about how I want to raise a family of my own, how I want my sons and daughters to know the pleasure of burning a flag along with their dad. Most of all, I think about the millions of Americans, young and old, rich and poor, black and white, who love burning the flag as much as I do. I urge our senators and congressmen to think about my story before they vote yes for a Constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. Please don't hurt America's families. Please don't take away our sacred right.


I'll always remember what my father said to me that summer afternoon so many years ago. "Son," he said, his voice constricting into a sob, "there's only one thing more American than burning a flag…and that's choking a bald eagle with your bare hands."

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

Cookie

Satire? Surely this dude isn't serious....

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Corgi butts drive me nuts.

serum114

Yes, it is satire. But with all satire a point is being made. The flag is nothing but a piece of colored cloth of symbolism. Often made in China or Korea. While what's important is the constitution. Which W has been in violation of on more than one occasion. For some reason the people have no respect for the constitution as they tout some bogus illogical patriotic fervor for the flag.

Our constitution is singular in it's ideals and separates us from every other country. Every country has it's unimportant symbolism. (flags) While the constitution should be what we are fighting for. In these times the enemy's of the constitution are here in the homeland in DC in our government.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

bornright

There is something else that is more American than choking a bald eagle and that is choking some idiot that gets pleasure from burning the American flag.

serum114

See you are part of the problem. Why would you hold symbolism in higher regard than the constitution???? Conservatives across the board think the flag is more important than the constitution unbelievable and unpatriotic.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

bornright

The flag represents much more to some than you seem to realize. I feel it represents the constitution. It represents every American that ever put on a uniform and fought the enemy of this country. It represents those that died in battle. It represents the freedoms that the fighting men paid for with their lives. You need to understand that people such as myself (the ones you claim to be part of the problem) feel anyone that burns the American flag in a dishonorable way should get the boot....right out of the country. Feel free to think of me as a "big part of the problem".

White Rabbit

serum114

I will never understand how someone can put more importance on the flag than the constitution or the bill of rights. Is it ok to burn them???

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

bornright

Apparently you can burn any honorable document or flag you wish to in this country. I was merely stating my distaste for the individual that does. Personally I have never had anyone burn the flag in front of me. My hope is that I would leave. Perhaps this nation would get lucky and they would catch themselves on fire which brings me to another point. Would it be dishonorable to let the flag burner burn?

jowey

I thought that the appropriate destruction of an unserviceable flag was to burn it. Unserviceable means soiled, having touched the ground or frayed.

It would be interesting to see someone try to choke a full grown Bald Eagle with their hands....

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