Just a few minutes ago, I walked out into the late-morning sunshine to pull dead plants from the window boxes at the front of our "new" (mid-40s model) house. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a woman in her late 60s walking down our street, her little dog forging ahead on its leash. As I crossed the sidewalk to attend to the other window box, the woman asked me, "Where are all the American flags on this street?"
A little confused, I replied, "Uh, I don't know. Should there be flags?"
"To commemorate 9/11," she replied. "Everyone is supposed to fly the flag."
I answered, "Well, I guess people commemorate in different ways."
"Evidently not this street," she said, her voice heavy with judgment, as she walked on, assessing the neighborhood. Cowardly absolving myself from the actions of my neighbors--though I was as guilty as they since I also did not have a flag flying in my yard--I said, "Well, I'm new here." I heard the woman's short laugh in the distance.
Clearly, people judge us by our outward expressions of faith or patriotism. But I was brought up in a strict Southern Baptist culture, and I took those stories of Jesus seriously as a child:
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. . . . But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. . . . .When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. . . . But when you do fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen."
This just sounds like wisdom to me, no matter what one's religious or irreligious persuasion. The advice jibes with my own tendency to Stoicism. Flying a flag reveals a person's true heart no more than praying on a street corner. I'm suspicious of people who make a great deal of praying in public; I am suspicious of people who worship the flag.
Anyway, this administration has been commemorating 9/11 every day for the past six years. I think a silent prayer and little bit of humility is in order for today.
3 comments:
I flew the flag and do not feel any need to absolve myself from doing so.
Nancy,
Good for you. I don't think you should apologize for flying the flag. My point was that we're too quick to judge by outward appearances, which was what my neighbor was doing. She was making a judgment about a whole neighborhood just because she didn't see flags flying from the houses.
Anita,
The flag is just a symbol. Flying the flag at certain times is symbolizing support of the United States..a show of solidarity. As citizens of this country we certainly need to support it, especially in the area of informed voting, or we are not fulfilling our responsibility to keep it a democratic republic. I've been concerned for some time about how our form of government has not been supported but its benefits have been taken for granted. Perhaps the lady you mentioned simply saw the lack of flags as an outward show of lack of support that has been felt internally for quite some time. Perhaps the judgment being made wasn't just by her.
Post a Comment