What the American Flag Stands For
What the American Flag Stands For
by Charlotte Aldebron
The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.
School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth.
Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag’s real meaning remains.
Charlotte Aldebron, 12, wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class. She attends Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle, Maine.
3 Responses
this is both awesome and chilling. imagine what it’s like to be a 12 year old girl and know so much about the failed promise of america. we need to do better for our children. right now! upside is that she lives in a place where her thoughts are valued and honored.
I hope her generation gets more done and that it sticks. I hope she’s president someday.
Donna, thank you so much for this entry! If you don’t mind I’d like to cite a bit of it, and refer people back to here for the rest. I do second Naomi’s thoughts: awesome and chilling indeed, and yes, we do have to do so much better by our kids. My Phoenix at almost 7 now repeats the pledge of allegiance, and I’ve told him about the dilemma with “under God,” and most importantly, the contradiction inherent in having us utter an oath of fealty when it is illegal to have one extracted of us. Anyway, thanks!
Best,
Nacho