Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Jack Remembers: Flag Ways

This time of year with Memorial Day, Flag Day, and the Fourth of July gives me an opportunity to complain about how people abuse the flag to show their patriotism. My favorite is the young woman I saw driving an old Toyota with a little American flag made in Taiwan tied to the antenna.
My biggest complaint now is people wearing the $5.00 Walmart t-shirt with an American flag on the front, made in China. An apparently patriotic man was wearing one at the check-out counter in front of me. It looked like it had been washed several times and was faded pretty bad. Since he was a big tough looking character I didn’t say anything.
Now, it’s not illegal to wear the Stars and Stripes on hats and clothing. It just can’t be 50 stars and 13 stripes. What would you do when your shirt got dirty? Take it off and give it to a VFW Post to burn in a flag disposal ceremony?
The other day I observed a Honda SUV in the Walmart parking lot with a big American flag sticker stuck under the back windshield. It had been raining and the flag had mud and dirt all over it. As I drove by I rolled down my window and hollered at the woman getting out of the SUV that it was an illegal display of the flag. She didn’t say anything, but waved back at me with one finger sticking up.
My American Legion Post had to replace several hundred small flags we place on the graves of the veterans in our local cemeteries on Memorial Day. We found a flag store in Kansas City that handled only American made flags and were only pennies more and are of much better quality than the flags made in Taiwan.
I received criticism about my recent column on driving only American made vehicles from people who drive foreign made vehicles. Am I the only one who “remembers Pearl Harbor”? Send me your thoughts to jackremembers@aol.com or PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075.

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