Why Do You Want To See That Every Day?

I had the idea about writing something to do with flags.  American flags, all the perversions of the flag, and all the other campaign and political flags I’ve seen over the last few years.  If I can’t think of a spin on the idea then I usually delete it of skip it entirely.  I don’t get the entire symbol thing, I never have.  It’s very important to some people and I don’t understand that either. I liken it to currency.  The actual twenty- dollar bill is worthless. It’s the idea behind it that gives it value.  If you don’t embrace the meaning of the flag, then it’s just colorful cloth.  Ask 100 people what the American flag means to them and you’ll get 100 answers.  You’ll get the same if you ask what the country means or what their citizenship means.  I guess my point is, you create a symbol as a shorthand to express an idea, but if the idea can mean anything to anyone, what the hell is the symbol for?

All that aside, I’ve run into a handful of homes while traveling for my job and they have raised very different flags.  I’ve seen the fading blue ones for the presidential candidate who lost last year, and the ones with a hopeful 2024 date on them. It’s pathetic and sad, but on their own, I don’t know if they are wholly offensive.  But there is a new batch of flags that have an entirely different tone. “I Know He Won”, stands out.  A black one with the phrase: “F#$k Biden and F#$k You For Voting For Him” also comes to mind.

Flags.  On flagpoles in peaceful neighborhoods.  Flapping in the breeze.  Every day.

I’ll also add the deluge of bumper stickers pasted on the backs of cars and trucks, (Let’s face it, mostly trucks.) Redneck.  Confederate flag.  AR-15’s and targets.  Fuck your Prius.  Fuck Democrats. Fuck Biden. Skulls and crossbones.  Outlaw.  Anger, bitterness, assholery.

Even your Jeep has to be pissed off?  Why drag him into this?

I could go on and on.  We’ve all seen them and we know how they got here.  What boggles my mind is:  Why on earth would you want to see that flag flying every day?  A flag with two giant f-bombs on it that hangs over your own home.  The first one I saw was at a house in rural Washington, waaaay deep in the woods.  No one but the owner and his family, and maybe his mail carrier ever see the damn thing.  He just stews with his hate every morning with his cup of bitterness as his Fuck flag flaps overhead.  You really want that to be part of your day?  Every day?

Do you drop your kids off at school with all that shit stuck to your car?  Do you pick up groceries or park for church service with a cavalcade of machine guns and underground racist symbols strewn all over your tailgate?  Do you have kids that ask about it?  Neighbors?  Do you care at all?  How about this:  Do you want this level of anger inside of you bubbling up 24/7? Maybe take a break from it. Give that a try. You can talk hate on the weekends with friends, but during the week we could all use a break from your bottomless well of bile.

I am reminded of the greatest comedy ever, The Simpsons and the episode ‘Two Bad Neighbors’.  Bart and Homer have a prank fight with new neighbor George Bush, and Bush’s big idea of retribution is to paint a banner of Bart and Homer with the phrase “Two Bad Neighbors” and hang it on his own house for the Simpsons to see.   Of course, the other neighbors on the street are confused. Why the hell would you put it up on your own house?  Aren’t you also punishing yourself?

This feels like the beginning of a ninety-foot thread that I just began to tug. Along this thread are ideas of the lack of people feeling noticed or heard, the lack of understanding between Americans as a whole, the disease of misinformation, the lack of education, and the national inability to effectively cope with change.  But today, I’m just talkin’ flags.

Stupid, worthless, pointless flags.

If I could convey something to these people, I would say that if their goal is to piss off the opposition they think is around their corner, it will never work.  The people who you think you’d purposely offend don’t care about dumb flags.  You’re just poisoning yourself and those around you every day. 

I would say that.  But I won’t.