I was leaving the Liquor store after buying a few supplies for the July 4th holiday this year I spotted a basket filled with small American flags a sign said" Take a free flag to celebrate the 4th" I stood there for a second kind of wondering to myself should I take one and what would I do with it if I took it?
I know that most people would either carry this flag around or display it in some patriotic manor. Honestly I didn't know what I would do with this flag as I moved my hand into the basket and grabbed one for myself. It had been twenty years since the last time that I had my own small American flag. My last flag had met a disastrous fate from my own hands. So here it goes my flag story.
The year was 1988 and a long July 4th weekend was upon us. That year the 4th was on a Monday and I was preparing to go on our annual Saco River canoeing trip with a bunch of old high school and college friends. A friend of mine suggested going on this trip a couple years prior using this as a good excuse to get away to have fun and combine canoeing, swimming, camping and especially drinking. Since one of our friends father had a canoe trailer that could hold up to six canoes and a few of our parents had canoes we could use easily filled the trailer. The first couple of years we actually paddled the whole river route from Conway N.H to Hiram Maine about a 34 mile trip most of it going with the current so you didn't have to paddle that hard most of the time. The great thing about the Saco River is that one, you can swim in it, and two they have nice sandy beach fronts all along the river bank that you can camp on for free. The only thing you need to do is remember to pick up a fire permit for your campfire before you leave on your trip. The big problem with doing the whole river in two and a half days is you have to go a certain distance every day and then you have to find a place to camp , have time to set up your tent get loose wood for the fire Sit around the campfire and eat for a few hours then getting a few hours sleep have some breakfast clean up your camp site put tents away paddle all day then try to find another camp site big enough for the whole group and do everything all over again. The July 4th weekend is the most popular time of the year on the Saco River so finding a good place to camp gets harder as the weekend goes on. It took us a couple of years to make a decision to give up on the idea of paddling the whole river. We decided it would be just as fun to paddle a little bit and just camp out at the best place we landed on the first day. Also by the third year our group had expanded from around ten to over twenty people. Some of the added people were friends we met through B.U. some girlfriends and female friends of the girlfriends. We had found the perfect a camp ground along the shore and staked it out with a big U.S. flag and a plastic penguin. We need something to mark our spot because not everyone in our large group arrived at the same time. This helped people arriving later to find our spot pretty easily. The place we had found was a sweet flat and sandy campground with enough room to spread out our tents, play some wiffle ball or to just sit and relax or go swimming. We also could just take sort trips in the canoe if we felt the urge to do so. One of the best things to happen was discovering that a general store was only about a quarter mile away so we could easily go back and forth to get more ice for the coolers to keep our food and drinks nice and cold throughout the long weekend. We all agreed that we had indeed found the perfect place no doubt about it.
Anyway, let's get back to the story, it was July 1st 1988. I was leaving with the first wave of people on Friday morning about ten in all. The rest were either coming later that afternoon or on Saturday morning. We met around ten in the morning to begin our journey up north. We stopped along the way to buy supplies and food in N.H. While I was shopping I noticed the others were buying small flags to display their patriotism. I wasn't feeling overly patriotic at the time. First we were in the later stages of the disastrous Reagan presidency. I don't get it that Reagan is considered a saint by a lot of people these days but back then he was a senile old war and with an administration that did a lot of dirty and illegal acts.
The Presidential election was getting underway; Republican, Vice President, George Bush Sr. vs. Democratic, Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis. Bush was trying to position himself to the far right and he was eager to portrait Dukakis as a left leaning Commie Liberal. He started of the campaign well behind in the opinion polls most people thought he was a wimpy sort of politician and his handlers thought by that they should use the old Patriotism and scare tactics that seemed to always work so well in the past along with bashing the A.C.L.U. they came up with the bright idea of adding a flag banning amendment to our constitution. Not only was this a terrible idea and a cheap election year ploy but it directly violates our rights to free speech. I rather have a million flags burned than give up any of our free speech rights.
So there I was camping out surrounded by all these tiny Flags and a bonfire blazing. That was the moment that I decide to make my stand. I talked my plan over with the rest of the crew. I thought it would be great if all of us would join in and burn our small flags on the 4th as a symbolic protest against this stupid proposed law. I just wanted to prove that the country would not fall apart if we did such an act and our country stands for a greater ideal. To my great surprise it turned out that I was just about the only one who thought that it was a good idea. So if I was the only one to have the courage to do it, so be it. I was determined to prove my point and nothing or no one could stop me.
The next couple of days some people tried to talk me out of doing it. They always used the argument that it was disrespectful and unpatriotic thing to do. I just responded back that we had a very weak country if burning a piece of cloth that was made in a third world country could destroy America. I told them that I strongly believed that this was a form of our freedom of speech and that was something we all should fight for. Sill I was only able to convince one other person to understand what I was trying to prove. So on our last morning of our trip and while the other were busy packing up their gear I grabbed my little piece of cloth and pointed it directly of the dying flame of our fire pit. I called over to my friend B.J. and she came over and took the picture of the burning cloth. Somehow our country has survived that day. My other friends were not to happy but they did invite me back the next year as long as I didn't buy anymore flags.
George Bush won the election that year thanks to the most part of using a lot of Anti –liberal smear attack ads. Luckily the Flag amendment never passed. The courts have so far denied making flag burning a crime. So far the free speech argument has prevailed in court. That hasn't stopped some right wing politicians from bringing this up every few years. They try to use this as a way to distract people from investigating most of their failed policies. They also use Regulating guns, Outlawing Abortions, Stopping Gay Marriage and silly things like what candidate is wearing or who is not wearing a flag lapel. I for one really dislike stuff like that. We really need people to demand answers to real problems like ending the war, affordable healthcare for all, a way out of our dependence on oil. Whether we might use more solar or maybe more wind power combined with more electric power cars or maybe some sort of combination. We really need to quickly develop some sort of a safe energy resource to help our country sustain a good quality of life. All too often it's the stupid simpleton hollow knee-jerk nonsense like the previous thing I mentioned that gets all the attention and press coverage. I wish that more people would question the real motives of these politicians and force them to focus only on what is really important. Maybe then we might be able to get some real meaningful results.
In closing I just want people to realize that I and many other citizens who protest believe just as much if not more in the ideals that America stands for maybe even more than those who wrap themselves in the flag or are content to just go along with the majority because they are too afraid of what might happen to them if they don't follow their leaders orders.
(Only one small piece of cloth was burned that July 4th and that was the one and so far only time I have burned any piece of cloth.)
Also a few years later I helped organize the burning of tons of old library books at a big bonfire party but that's a long story for another time!
Great narrative, Rich. It tells a damn good story, and you get to inject your passionate thoughts. I am not a flag burner, and I would not be overjoyed to see people burn the flag, but I would never deny their right to do so.
The book burning bonfire. That was quite a scene. I hoep you tackle it soon in your writing!
Posted by: Fitz | August 10, 2008 at 10:02 PM