Honor Our War Dead: Fly 'Old Glory'
By Patrick H. Brady
Our freedom is a treasure chest. It was filled by the sacrifices of our great heroes and patriots -- by our veterans, POWs, and MIAs.
The chest of freedom must continuously be replenished by our sacrifices, by growing and nurturing patriots who alone will ensure our future when, one day, they become veterans.
This Memorial Day, patriotic Americans will decorate, with the first flowers of spring, the graves of those who sacrificed their youth, who gave all the spring times of their lives, so that liberty might grow old.
The fact that we have such a tradition marks our greatness as a people.
Our honored war dead have been the vault for the values of this nation. And that is what is important to the veterans I have known. They did not take an oath to defend a person, a party, a king or a dictator -- they took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States -- a set of values.
That is what veterans would like for us to honor, not just them, but the values for which they gave so much of body and soul -- values such as courage, a willingness to sacrifice, service to others and to country.
What is most important, indeed vital, is that the youth of today see that we remember. See that we are grateful, know that service and sacrifice and courage are noble things, and that America, which has no kings or queens, still has a nobility. They are called -- veterans.
I wonder what those we remember today would think if they could come back to the America they saved and watch our TVs, or sit in a classroom, or read our newspapers.
I know that in the midst of the devaluing of America and of patriotism, there is one issue that would hurt the most: seeing that it is legal to desecrate the flag for which they fought. It is the family portrait of all Americans. It is the sacred shroud that embraced their coffin, and which was the tissue for the tears of their loved ones.
They would be outraged by a Supreme Court that took away our freedom to protect their flag.
They would be horrified to hear the elitists in this country say they died on the battlefields of the world so that their flag could be burned on the street corners of America. They did not give their last full measure of devotion to keep the likes of Hitler, Kim Il Sung and Ho Chi Minh from dishonoring our flag, only to have the people they fought for allow a few judges to disgrace it.
It was not the courts or the ACLU who gave us freedom of speech, our veterans did. It is not radical demonstrators burning our flag who contribute to peace. It is the men and women who served and sacrificed under the flag, and who respect the values it embodies who are the real peace demonstrators.
If the great Americans we remember today could come back, they would be in the front lines fighting to recapture our flag.
The courts have taken the word "speech" from the First Amendment and distorted it beyond recognition. Just consider: prayer is not protected speech, pornography is. Burning a draft card or a cross is not protected speech, but burning an American flag is.
If you disagree with the courts who say that desecrating the flag is speech, and if you agree with 80 percent of the American people who say it is despicable, hateful conduct, fly your flag.
If you believe that the core of this issue is values and if you believe that our laws should reflect our values, then show your colors!
If you believe in democracy, in the right of the majority to determine the laws and values that govern their society, fly the symbol of democracy.
If you agree with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who adopted the first flag and wrote the First Amendment, that the flag should be protected, fly your flag. It will say thanks to all the founding fathers and be a giant step toward recapturing the Constitution and restoring it to the way they intended it to be.
If you agree with George Washington that amending the Constitution is the only way for the people to control and perfect it, then fly the flag that Washington himself helped design.
The great thing about our veterans is that they never really leave us, dead or alive. The noblest part of their being stays with us as a part of our being as a free people.
As long as they are a part of our being, as long as we remember, we will never fly a white flag, but we will forever wave a red, white, and blue flag. Nothing we do will do more to free our flag, and to honor their memory, than to begin on Memorial Day to fly Old Glory.