I just drove past the intersection of Pine Grove Road and Greenville Loop. There's a guy sitting by the road in a wheelchair holding a large American flag. There's a smaller flag attached to the arm of the chair. He appears to be looking at his phone - this is America, after all. Several people beeped their horns as they drove by. I was one of them. I may have had tears in my eyes.
I do that when I see someone unashamedly celebrating America. I do that when I see a veteran wearing a baseball cap with the insignia of their branch. I do that when the preacher asks all those who have served in the military to stand up at church. I will do that tomorrow when the children march down the beach in the annual Hanover Seaside Club Flag Parade. I will stand up and clap until every one of them passes by our chair and umbrella encampment.
Let's be clear, though. I do not worship the flag or those who bear it. I do not worship those who served in times of war and of peace. I do not worship my country. But I do love and appreciate the freedoms I take for granted and those who made the choice to defend them. I do not think that America is the only country God loves. But there is no doubt that God has blessed us richly - above and beyond what we deserve. There are people who are risking their lives and the lives of their children to come here. How dare we disrespect the spirit that drives them to our shores? How dare we malign our country when so many who live in peril around the world would trade places with the least-privileged of us in a nano-second? To do so is ungracious and rude. We have become a spoiled and whiny nation. We are turning 243 years old tomorrow, isn't it about time we grew up?
And with that, I will step down from the red, white and blue soapbox from whence I have surely offended somebody, somewhere. Not my intention, but hey, it's a free country so be offended if you like. I'll just be over here cheering for a bunch of kids in patriotic bathing suits following a drummer down the beach... pa rum, pa rum, pa rum pum pum... and honking my horn at the guy on the corner with his flag. I'll say, "Thank you for your service," when I see an old guy in the grocery store with a US Army (or Navy, or Air Force, or Marines, or Coast Guard....) patch on his hat. I will respect those who returned home with visible scars and invisible wounds and labor alongside us every day - those who came back to ticker tape parades and those who came back to silence or even sneers. I will stand up when the Star-Spangled Banner is played - in fact, I'll be singing along. If our dear friends who live around the corner are nearby, there will be four-part harmony. This is not worship. This is gratitude. And it is an appropriate offering.
Selah.
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