Mixed Emotions 3

This story in today’s local rag left me with profoundly mixed emotions:

On April 28, Catherine Andreacchio, whose son had shipped out for Iraq on March 23, hung a Stars and Stripes – with a U.S. Marine Corps emblem in the center – from the front of her Montgomery Township home.

A few days later, she said, she took it down at the request of the homeowners’ association at her development.

The association said she was violating its rules by flying what it calls a “defaced” flag. And the American Legion says it violates the U.S. flag code.

But on Monday, Andreacchio put it back up and sent a three-page, single-spaced letter to the association protesting its opposition to that version of the flag.

On the one hand, I have nothing but sympathy for Ms. Andreacchio. My older son returned from Iraq in November, where he was dispatched to defend honorably a dishonorable regime. And no doubt he will be returning, because of the incompetence, venality, and corruption of the current Federal Administration. I know her concern and worry.

On the other hand, I believe strongly in observing proper flag etiquette. And a flag of the United States of America with the Marine Corps emblem–or any other emblem–on it is an improper flag.

So, while I honor her emotions, I must state that I have qualms about her actions.

Which leads me to other musings–about those who would ban burning the flag of the United States of America as a form of protest.

As distasteful as I find that act, I believe it shows more respect for the flag than those who favor “flag-burning” amendments show. After all, those who burn the flag believe it means something, and that, by burning it, they make a statement.

Those who favor “flag-burning” amendments tend to wrap their greasy hair in the Stars and Stripes bandanas, or clothe their fat (rear-ends) in the Stars and Stripes shorts and then sit on it, or put adulterated representations of the Stars and Stripes in the rear windows of their vehicles. and think that, in doing so, they are showing their patriotism.

They dishonor the flag and what it symbolizes far more than Ms. Andreacchio’s adulterated “Marine Corps” flag or those who would burn the flag thinking that it actually stands for something.