More Than a Symbol

Lee Murray

You see it everywhere, our U.S. flag. On billboards, T-shirts, adorning buildings including the White House, and featured prominently at government offices and at military ceremonies.

But what does our venerable flag mean? Many would call it a symbol, a banner representing our country. But it’s really much more than that.

It represents the ideals fought for by a fearless band of ragtag soldiers led by George Washington over the British that would later be memorialized by James Madison in the U.S. Constitution. It stands for a courageous group of revolutionary men who envisioned independence and risked being tried and executed in a successful effort to separate from the British Crown. For Thomas Jefferson who penned the Declaration of Independence telling King George III that his tyrannical rule over the colonies was now over.

The flag represents freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights beginning with the First Amendment, giving U.S. citizens freedom of speech, of religion, freedom to assemble, and to petition the government. As Americans, we can easily take these cherished rights for granted, since we’ve never known anything else. Yet anyone can see around the globe countless nations that impose the most egregious human rights abuses for the slightest infractions, forcing their citizens to live in abject fear or face lashings, execution, and any one of a number of horrible punishments.

As Americans, we go to bed each night knowing that we are protected by the brave men and women of our United States Armed Forces who keep all of us out of harm’s way.

We have the ability to vote in free and fair elections for candidates of our own choosing without redress from the government and the right to replace those government officials if we so choose.

Our country is governed by three co-equal branches with a unique system of checks and balances to make sure no one single branch garners more power than the others.

The best part of being an American, and why our nation is exceptional is because no other country on earth enjoys the rights our citizens do. While other nations may impose harsh penalties, including prison time for what someone might say or post on social media, our First Amendment is the envy of the world with its far-reaching protections for those who express even the most vitriolic comments.

The U.S. has been widely criticized by naysayers who are quick to point out our missteps in our nearly 250-year history, and there have been those, to be sure. But we have made concerted efforts to make amends to those we’ve wronged and to live by the precepts that all men are created equal.

At a baseball or football game or another large gathering, when you hear the “Star-Spangled Banner” being sung and see the red, white, and blue flying proudly, people everywhere stand with their hands over their hearts giving thanks for the wonderful fortune of being born within these shores.

Long live the stars and stripes and the United States of America!

Summer Rain

Sandy Ilsen

As a clap of thunder pierced through the air,

We opened the blinds to look out at the rain.

Into the lake it splashed and cavorted,

And pulsed against the window pane.

It was during a rainstorm that we met,

Our footsteps resounding like notes in a song.

But summer rain is a fleeting affair,

It moves in fast, and then is gone.

Together we watched the storm subside,

As it passed away to another phase.

A double rainbow arched over the lake,

While sunbeams filtered through the haze.

We parted, and each took a separate path,

Our interlude had ended, just like the rain.

But the last few drops, like lingering tears,

Trickled slowly down the window pane.

Parting

Ernest D’Godor

The parting of anyone or anything close to you is always complicated. It is not a problem of your head. It’s a problem of your heart. It doesn’t matter how much your head tells your heart that it is to be expected or it is for the better, when the final event occurs, there is just no telling how you are going to react.

I’ve been watching my dog change from healthy middle age to health issue complicated old age in the matter of a few weeks. All of a sudden, she has limbs that shake when she stops to smell something. She can’t hold her bladder, so she has been peeing in the house almost every day for the last week and a half; something she never did even a month ago. On our walks, she stops often. At first, I thought she wanted to go home, but now I think it is because she is too tired to go on. She is covered in white hair now.

She is 14, and the average lifespan of a dog in Japan is 15. My other dog died at 11. So. I shouldn’t be so shocked at this sudden fall into dotage. Still, my heart is not ready.

We still walk together every day, twice a day. We still sleep together at night. Now there is a waiting. There is also an appreciation for the time we have together. But there is still The Waiting.

When my other dog died, it was very quick. She was outside, and something was not right. We took her to the vet. He said he would keep her for observation, but we got a call that night to come and say goodbye. Then we had to watch in horror as the vet tried to revive her, although her eyes were already dead. The vet couldn’t figure out why she had died. He said it was poison, but there was no way she had even eaten anything inadvertently. Later I realized she had died of radiation poisoning. Fallout from the Fukushima reactor.

It all makes me wonder about my own death. Will it be a good death or will I be a burden to those around me?

We have so many expectations about our death. It’s the inevitability that still shocks us. As soon as we Enter this world, we are moving relentlessly to the Exit. Still, our hearts don’t follow.