As the sun sets another fiery glow to the horizon, I solemnly walk to the garden, where she waits. She always looks so majestic, this lonely mother, with the sunset behind her. Her shocking silhouette standing strong and proud before an entire world set afire by shame and greed. She beckons to me with a windy wave, this lonesome sentry, and leaves me still in thought for just a moment. There is something to be said for the lonely retreat we task ourselves with each day, walking out at first light and than back in at dusk.
It's just a small price to pay for the burdens she carries for us -- the burdens of an entire nation.
If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be able to perform this seemingly little task, filled with so much meaning. It puts a tear in my eye, but keeps the fire surging through my veins. Pouring from a confused and broken heart. There is a lot of people out there that would argue, stating that it's just a flag; a piece of cloth stained with Stars and Stripes.
Well, look again my friend, I say, for you have your soul closed, as well as your eyes. When she waves at me, I see the birth of a new nation. Founded on a common but complex cause -- your freedom. I see 'ol George Washington fording the mighty Potomac, and she is there. Bivouacked together in a cold and lonely fort, or standing at the front of the muster line, waiting to commit to patriotic duty -- even though he is only fourteen.
I see a country divided because of economic indifference, which shamefully go to war against their own. I see thousands, both Union and Confederate, standing tall for what they believed in. Is it a question of right or wrong, or freedom? Young men lying hungry and weary in a thousand miles of trench, many of who have been there for a long, long time. She took our boys over there because an ally was at risk in losing his freedom.
I saw her storming the beaches of Normandy and weeping openly over Pearl Harbor. She shouted for joy when the Marines fought to stand her tall at Iwo Jima and the Air Force took to the skies in Operation Vittles. She maintained a constant watch over her sons and daughters as they tarried forth into Korea. The attempt to put an end to the spread of the era's newest demon -- communism; The newest politico that loathes the democratic form.
I looked upon her in her desperation as she went forth into the jungles of Southeast Asia and watched her heroes disappear. I saw her openly mourn when she learned that her nation no longer valued her trust, and that of her patriots. I saw the proud gleam in her when she learned of the tiny recreation in her likeness, that was forged from scrap cloth and homemade ink in a small cell in Hanoi. Now there was a group of fellows who knew what freedom really meant. It radiated from them as they sang tribute to her, knowing full well the consequences of their patriotic love. It broke her heart the day our POWs came home, for there are many who were left behind. I saw the pain in her eyes, knowing that some of her children would look upon her no more. I hear her cry for them night after night!
Most recently, she instilled patriotism back in the soul of a nation when she sent her might to the Persian Gulf, to beat down a tyrant. She has seen her share of battles, yes, but her fight continues even today. She finds herself negotiating through war-torn countries such as Somalia and Bosnia. In the midst of conflicts in Israel, and between England and Ireland you'll find her presence. She fights against the drug lords of Columbia and against an entire under-world of terrorism, yet she stands fast to the adversity. She fights for freedom.
You see -- I look upon her and I see freedom and it's highest price. From Concord to Oklahoma, some gave so that others may freely take. Theirs, the blood of millions, stain her Red, White, and Blue, sanctifying her with their love of their country and freedom they valued so much. Your freedom you take for granted was sacrificed so freely? Look upon her again my friend, when I bring out to meet the morn. Then -- tell me what it is that you see.
