Why is this so damn hard to understand for some people?

Question

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.

The American flag it's just a damn piece of cloth. It is NOT the entire country, any part of the country, or even a single citizen. Why is this so damn hard to understand for some people?

Answer 1

That is a set of interesting points, and a valid one.
I think, though, if you ask veterans who have fought in wars for the country, they often have a completely different set of views.
The flag symbolizes a set of ideas. It symbolizes freedom, for one thing. People are free to be drug addicts or free to be free from drug addiction. We aren't condemned to die of starvation like those in Stalin's collectivization. We are free to live a lifestyle that sends us into a gutter to die from a miserable existence, or we are free to strive, strive more, and continue to strive to struggle for success until we get there. In this country there is only one thing you are given. Not meals, not a home, not a job.....you are given the opportunity to get these things on your own. Not everyone has that opportunity in the world. The flag also represents a system of government and a society that is imperfect and slow to grow to fruition. But it can get there. Women got to vote in the 1920's. Jim Crow laws were abolished in the 1960's. It's taken 200 years to just get this far. And we've got a ways to go. But when we pledge allegiance to a flag, just a piece of cloth, we are pledging allegiance to a system that creates opportunity.
When the muslims finally take over, and you lose the freedoms you have as a woman and an American, then you may understand why some people have such a strong feeling for that piece of cloth.

Answer 2

Of course no one will come pick up the bum off the ground, if he had any worth he could pick himself up; the flag, your piece of cloth, cant do that. Of course school brats pledge loyalty to the flag, which symbolizes this country, and what it stands for, which is the right to strive for fair wages, enough food, health care, etc. Just cause the religious right elected a person who doesnt believe in any of these things isnt the flags fault. I agree that if the flag was in a grave and could spin it would be spinning at what has become of this country.

Answer 3

Good thoughts. A cloth is a symbol, and people are people.

"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."

Now if we would work harder at keeping the bit of the pledge that says "liberty and justice for all" we would not have this problem.

Answer 4

Having to explain it to you leads me to believe you won't understand anyway.

Yes, the flag is a piece of cloth. It's not JUST a cloth or piece of fabric. It's what it represents. It's a symbol. This is the reason for the folding ritual and respect that it gets. The pledge of allegiance is not to the flag as a piece of cloth. The pledge is to what the flag represents. Last time I checked it was also to the Republic & what it represents and holds dear to us as Americans. This ritual insures loyalty to our country, a promise we make as Americans. Also, last time I checked, treason was against the law.

My response is: Why can't some people see this?? You ramble on about fair wage, food, medicine, the environment,etc. What does this have to do with the flag? Just because we hold honor to it doesn't mean our country doesn't have problems. It seems to me that you're looking for perfection, a utopia. What's your alternative? Anarchy?

Answer 5

I know exactly what you are saying!!! I had a friend back in high school who Refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I didn't want to create waves but I agree with her now. Its completely ridiculous to talk to a flag and our "country" when we dont' even do anything about our country!! I hate that. I hate seeing homeless people, especially children when I know that for the most part, our government isn't doing a da** thing to help these people out. Its frustrating. We should write a pledge to the American people and say that every morning holding hands..or something like that. It would spread equality, loyalty, and empathy to the human race. Not a piece of scrap fabric.

Answer 6

it's cheaper to pay respect to a flag than a homeless person.

I agree that it is cloth. I find your wording humorous, though. "No one cares if a homeless person touches the ground"??? Lol, should we give them helicopters and anti-gravity machines????????

Plus, it is the SYMBOLISM of the flag. I agree that people don't treat others with respect. But I think you are talking apples and oranges. Guess what? I can have respect for BOTH my country (and the symbol of my country, which is the flag), AND a person on the street! I don't think your logic is very good, and maybe THAT is why it is so "damn hard" for people to understand.

Answer 7

The American flag is an important SYMBOL for the entire country; as such, what you do to it is what you think of the country as a whole. Not because its a piece of cloth but because that is what flags are by common agreement that goes back hundreds if not thousands of years: representations of something much bigger.

However, you make a great point about how we're careful about the flag and not so careful about other things that make up this country. I liked what you have to say, thanks for serving up some great food for thought.

Answer 8

Many men and woman died for that flag and some for It that Is why It Is sooooooooooo Important.I do understand your concern for the homeless and jobs etc.yes this country has forgotten Its own people here at home.Jobs are going overseas more and more people are homeless,more and more people from other countrys stealing our benefits.

I have medical problems and I am an american citzen and I recieve $200 dollars a month to live on I am hurting but I still respect this flag and this country

Answer 9

Is it really "against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad." or are you just winding us up? I find some of the things Americans do a bit weired.

Answer 10

the flag represents the country.. when people swear loyalty to the flag they swear loyalty to the country, and thus all the laws of the land and the rights of people under the flag, but we should treat the homeless better or even the same way as we treat the flag.