I've been folded smartly by soldiers and handed to weeping widows. I've covered the coffins of those who've served country and community.
I also decorate bandstands and concert halls. I am saluted in parades, in schools and at ball parks.
I am part of political campaigns, high holidays and ice cream socials.
I fly from skyscrapers and bungalows. I've been to the moon and the ocean floor.
I am everywhere my people are. I am saluted and, occasionally, scorned. I have been held with pride and I have been ridiculed, because I am everything my people are: proud, angry, happy, sad, vengeful, argumentative, ambitious, indifferent.
I was created to serve a people in struggle and a government in change.
There are now more stars in my blue field than there were in the beginning and, if need be, there's room for more.
But, those red and white stripes remain as they've always remained, clearly visible through the struggle -- the symbol of the "land of the free and the home of the brave."
I am your past. I am your future. I am your flag. |