Symbols- outward expressions of inner feelings

Americans are flag wavers. Some dignified, and often conquered, countries find such patriotic symbolism quaint and overstated, but we love it and want others to know how we feel about our country. We have a beautiful flag that reflects both national unity and individuality of states. It is unmistakable in a parade or Olympic ceremony. But it's not the flag, it's our heart that is out there on that pole or draped over a coffin of a casualty of war.

This weekend Gail and I spent most of the time in the yard, laboring under cloudy skies and a cool Iowa breeze. (I know it's hot in Oklahoma, but I'm getting to the point.) She gave me a flag pole for my birthday and I built the concrete base a few weeks ago. This weekend we finished the flower bed around it in our usual "work hard for two days, then hurt for a week" pattern. Just before church, I marched out with the telescoping aluminum pole and she carried the flag. We put it up and just stood there. We didn't have to say anything. The meaning was clear, the statement was made.

Symbols become a part of our being as soon as we reach the age of social awareness. I recall the draft card burning of the 1960s and even flag burning by those opposed to the Vietnam war. Those who symbolically showed they wouldn't serve were making an individual statement, but those who burned the flag, even though they had the right to do so, hurt me. Yet, with that feeling, I would still defend their right to freedom of expression.

My Albanian friends, Shefqet and Alma Meko, held a party to celebrate their American citizenship. I drove to Minneapolis to attend the event and was pleased to see an American flag in the banquet room. They cleared out the chairs and began to dance and Shefqet brought the flag over to the middle of the room and wrapped it around he and Alma to great cheering from native born and immigrants alike. Each person who had taken the oath of citizenship proudly draped themselves with the flag with no shortage of tears and hugs and happiness.

One symbol that I wish we'd change is our national anthem. Like many Americans I wish that Francis Scott Key had not been given a window that looked out on Fort McHenry so he could find inspiration to convert a British drinking song into our, hard to remember and impossible to sing, anthem. The founding fathers blew that one and yet, we can't bring ourselves to say: "this doesn't work" when singers can't remember the words and crowds can't hit the notes. I had my first talk radio laugh when a caller, responding to Willie Nelson forgetting the words to the Star Spangled Banner, said he served in WWII as a guard at the front line in Germany. "If someone approached from the enemy side, we asked them to sing the national anthem and if they got it right, we shot 'em!"

In this season of symbolic holidays we will see many displays of patriotism. The graves of veterans will be marked with flags, speakers platforms will be decorated with bunting of stars and stripes. Fireworks will boom out and streak the sky with red, white and blue trails, some with the sacred monuments and statues in the foreground. We will wear the colors, not in protest, but in support of our country and the unity of millions who may have come here to escape communist oppression, tribal rebellion, social upheaval, religious persecution or famine, to be Americans. We connect our symbols and our land where we are free to believe what we will, worship as we wish and to pursue happiness as we want.

When we end the day and the flag comes down, as the bugler plays Taps, we should take a moment to feel good about ourselves. To rededicate our lives, to know that this country didn't begin by accident and won't survive without sacrifice.

Day is done, gone the sun,

From the hills, from the lake,

From the sky.

All is well, safely rest,

God is nigh.

(The bugle call for "lights out" was adapted to Taps by Union General Daniel Butterfield in 1862. There are no official words to the music but several popular verses.)

Editor's note: Ken Root is now celebrating his 34th year as an agricultural professional. His career began as a vocational agriculture teacher then turned to agricultural broadcasting and writing as well as environmental consulting and association management. He was the original host of AgriTalk (1994-2001) and now is lead farm broadcaster for WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa. Ken and Jeff Caldwell also publish the MidWest Ag Report electronic newsletter each Friday. A free e-mail subscription is available by going to www.hpj.com and clicking on Midwest Ag Report.

Date: 5/25/06

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