Posted on 05/19/2002 6:20:13 AM PDT by serinde
Teen wants to bring reverence back to flag
By Alicia Gooden
The Daily News
Published May 19, 2002LA MARQUE — Paul Fillippa has had a profound appreciation for the American flag since he was a 9-year-old Cub Scout.
That was the first time he saw the proper retirement for the U.S. flag.
“It’s just stayed in my head, and now I’m trying to live it out,” he said.
Eight years later, and on the cusp of graduation from high school, Fillippa wants to give a final tribute to Old Glory.
The 17-year-old La Marque High School senior is now a Life Scout, and as a project to become an Eagle Scout — the Boy Scouts’ highest honor — he wants the rest of the community to know how to dispose of tattered and worn U.S. flags.
This heightened sense of patriotism was brought on by the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Before 9-11, it seems like only people affiliated with the armed forces were into flags,” he said. “Now everybody is more patriotic.”
But Fillippa doesn’t want the patriotism to wane and the flags to go on unkempt, weathered and torn. He wants the allegiance to the American flag to be followed all the way to its death.
“The flag should be respected,” he said.
Eagle Scout projects must be endeavors that will benefit the community. Only 4 percent of all boys that join the Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank, according to information provided by the Boy Scouts of America.
Fillippa was in his second period class when he heard the news of the terror attacks.
“It’s just weird to think that someone would want to terrorize America,” he said.
Fillippa, a member of Troop 244, has been doing research on the subject for weeks now, getting help from Vietnam veterans such as Robert Rodriguez, who is also an Eagle Scout and who is Fillippa’s sponsor.
“I am very proud of him for doing that,” Rodriguez said. “I think he’s going to open up a nice can of worms.”
Though flag burning is controversial, ironically, burning is the proper way to retire an old flag.
Fillippa said the flag is cut into four quarters, but the blue field is the last to be cut and must remain intact.
When it is time for the blue field to be burned, whoever is holding that section must hold it up, kiss it and then let in burn in the flames.
Fillippa believes that burning the flag outside of retirement is disrespectful.
“I think it’s wrong for them to burn our symbol of freedom,” he said.
Fillippa said he wants to engage more young people in patriotic activities. He said if there is a lesson for young people to learn from the Sept. 11 attacks, it is that they are not invincible and that American freedoms should not be taken for granted.
“It’s like our parents saw war; they’ve seen it,” he said. “Now it’s our time to see it.”
Fillippa’s ceremony will be June 8 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in La Marque.
“I can’t wait to say that I was a Boy Scout, but now I’m an Eagle Scout,” he said.
You are an ass for posting such a statement.
I mean you're down at the bar with your buddies and Ralph tells you how his kid just been arrested for drug possession. Bob tells you how his son is dating a hooker. Harlan's kid just got a ten-year sentence for robbery. And what do you have to offer----"We'll my son's pretty big into flag etiquette. . ."
I realize that ain't cool either.
May I ask how old you are?
This has become an obsession for the kid. What if he had seen his mommy dressing when he was 9 and it "stayed in his head" and he tried "to live it out."? This dude would be like a transvestite or shoe-fetishist now.
I think this young man is crying out for help. Today its dead flags. Tomorrow he will be into women's underwear. parsy the concerned.
Then there's some folks whose cry for help is posting outrageous replies on internet forums…
I know which one I'd rather have leading my country or my business.
Hopefully, maturity will broaden his horizon, but at least he's headed in a good direction.
So, my dear parsifal, just how do you explain the origin of James Carville? hmmmm?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
You make some good points.
(P.S. ....don't worry about trying to explain Carville's genesis....some mysteries are better left unknown.)
There is less "abnormal pathology" (as opposed to "normal pathology?") in this than there is in getting wasted or dyeing your hair blue or getting your scrotum pierced.
I mean this kid is getting freaky about cutting dead flags into pieces, ritually separating the pieces, kissing them, and then burning them in some ceremonial order.
Uh, the kid didn't invent the rituals; they are a part of traditional flag etiquette. The fact that you -- and millions of others like you -- don't know that is the kid's point.
And then going around to teach others about this and gaining new disciples for the cult.
Yeah, some cult. The worst thing they do is retire our nation's flag with the utmost ceremony and respect. You can almost see them spray-painting "Up with America" on railroad overpasses, can't you?
Can you spell "Hitler Youth"? Can you spell "Youth in Torment."? This is some wierd stuff here, Dude.
Can you spell "honor?" Can you spell "tradition?" Can you spell a proper sense of awe for our national symbol, and the lives and liberties it represents? Ooooooo. Scary stuff indeed!
I feel sorry for this poor kid and here you are encouraging him.
It's okay. I feel sorry for you, but I'm not encouraging you. Save your pity for the TRUE youth in torment. You know, the ones who think Kurt Cobain was cool. The ones who have no sense of connection with their past or with something larger than themselves, so they go out in a blaze of glory. Like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
And save a little pity for yourself, for the fact that you're so cynical and self-obsessed that you would actually FEAR someone bent on paying his respect to an ideal.
I disagree completely with your ideas that showing respect to the flag is somehow kooky or abnormal.
I do agree that lots of good Christian kids are sheltered from the real world, sometimes too much so. My son-in-law just graduated from a Christian university, and he has many stories of college students going way overboard the first time they are away from home. After too much sheltering, the freedom just carries them away. While being sheltered, they did not learn how to hold to their values when under attack.
That said, many kids - like the young man in this article and several more I know - can and do face the world without "losing it," or joining some cult, or have some other negative response to the "real" world. These youth are the ones that find some positive interest, know and decide to uphold ideas of morals and values, and try to live their lives according to these beliefs.
As long as there are kids like this, there is hope for the world.
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