Honor Flag Day Today

Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation. – June 14, 1777, Continental Congress

Each June 14th we remember and honor the official adoption of our flag in 1777 by the Continental Congress. Legend has it the flag was commissioned by George Washington himself, and created by Betsy Ross.

The annual traditional June observance originated in a classroom in Wisconsin over 100 years later, in 1885. Bernard J. Cigrand, then a 19 year old teacher, “placed a 10 inch, 38- star flag in a bottle on his desk then assigned essays on the flag and its significance.” After many years of lobbying on Cigrand’s part, President Woodrow Wilson eventually issued a proclamation in 1916, calling for national observance of the holiday. In 1949, President Truman signed into law Congressional legislation designating June 14th as National Flag Day. The law also called for an annual Presidential proclamation.

This year that proclamation will come from President Trump.

Today is the day when every American should raise the flag and take a moment to consider all that it symbolizes: The liberation of millions around the world; The sacrifices of men and women on the battlefield; The ideals of the Revolution … The idea of freedom itself. So much is represented and evoked by the cloth of the flag. So many ideas, so much history, so many lives symbolized and embodied by 13 stripes of white and red, a field of blue and 50 stars.

This year, let us remember especially that the flag stands for all Americans, every political party, every demographic. The world watches us, and in our flag they see us. We are divided on issues, but we’re still that group of cowboys and dreamers that the world mythologizes and recognizes. We are that. And we are we. And this is our flag.

This is the purpose of a symbol is it not? That all who see it may know what it is about; That it be a light in a world of darkness; That those who suffer, those oppressed, those huddled masses yearning to be free, may see it and in it find hope. The flag represents not just ideas, or the big idea of America, but the individuals who live and work every day. Each one of us.

Flag day is a low-key observance. It’s not marked by the spectacles of the Fourth of July or the solemn ceremonies of Memorial Day. But it is an important day, and something that is important to remember.

The flag is raised in both remembrance and promise. It is the symbol of all we have been, and all we have yet to be. It has been carried into battle by countless warriors, raised in victory on foreign soil, and flown at half-mast at the passing of our heroes and leaders. It told those in prisoner and concentration camps that freedom had come at last. It is the picture of us, in red, white and blue.

Today, and this week, don’t simply fly your flag. Remember why it is there, and how much has been sacrificed on its, and our, behalf.

God Bless America.

*This article was first posted at RedState in 2010 and has been modified and repost

The post Honor Flag Day Today appeared first on RedState.