Hypertext Flags

What is this thing anyway?

Americans all view the same flag yet digest and interpret it in a different way. I view the flag as a malleable symbol through which every individual protected under it is allowed to interpret it in their own manner. If the flag meant only peace or only justice, the individuals that make up this country would not be so diverse and unique; America would never have stood for the opportunistic land that it has come to be known as. However the flag, like many symbols, would mean nothing to anyone if it did not stand for this country, its people, and its opportunities.

            September 11^th was a day that no American alive will ever forget. None shall fail to remember the day when the most powerful country in the world was penetrated by a small group of organized men whom shattered our overbearing confidence. Despite their desires however, we rose to their animosity and chose to become stronger by setting aside trifling differences which we had with one another and strongly rising up together as a phoenix from the ashes of the world trade centers. We all stood together as every citizen of this country took hold of a flag and waved it with fiery eyes of patriotism. As Donald and Christine McQuade put it, the flag became “ubiquitous “ (579) as it could be seen flying from rooftops, hanging out windows, standing upon newly erected flagpoles, worn on clothes, draped upon animals, stuck out from vehicles, and branded onto stamps as the wave of patriotism spread across our wounded nation. America’s sense of pride and more importantly what our flag means had been attacked with every intention of bringing us down, yet instead they were forever strengthened.

            So what is this flag really? I believe it to be the embodiment of over two hundred years of never surrendering to those who wish to stifle freedom; never giving an inch of room to those intolerant and allowing individuals’ rights to reign supreme everywhere within the borders of our great country. The flag is “pregnant with expressive content…” (Brennan 588) as Justice William J. Brennan Jr. puts it and does not have the capacity to stand for only one belief or to protect only one group. It fully covers the views of all who make up the country it belongs to and that is precisely what the flag means to me. I love this country because I can say and do as I please as long as I follow the simple rule of not infringing on the rights of others. Having lived in this country my entire lifetime I cannot even imagine the lives of those who are oppressed or the pain they must suffer on a daily basis because they are forced into beliefs that are not theirs. To be forced into another’s code against one’s desire is truly a punishment and a torture that I could not endure. That is why I am proud to live in this country that I live in. I am proud to be able to say that my flag stands for something greater than nation or property or opportunity for wealth. My flag stands for freedom of expression and belief; undervalued privileges with more worth than can be put into words. As Anne Fadiman quotes in her writing “the flag is constant in expressing beliefs Americans share, beliefs in law and peace and that freedom which sustains the human spirit” (qtd. In Fadiman 584) and I feel the same and hope that the flag will remain an evolving part of our country so that those who come after me will be able to view it in the same light as I do today. I can only wish that the flag stays intact as it is so that future generations will be able to live under its protective cloak as I do and be guaranteed the same rights that many in our world only dream of having.

WC: 662

Works Cited

Brennan, Justice William Jr. “Majority Opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Texas v Johnson (1989).” Seeing and Writing 3. Ed. Christine McQuade and Donald McQuade. Boston, New York: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2006. 599-589.

Fadiman, Anne. “A Piece of Cotton.” Seeing and Writing 3. Ed. Christine McQuade and Donald McQuade Boston, New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2006. 580-585.

McQuade, Christine and Donald cQuade. Seeing and Writing 3. Boston, New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2006.