Entry bubble Flag Day, Snoozeville? Not Really!

By: Ginger | June 12, 2009 | Category: General

American flag hanging in front of an antique shopJune 14th is officially celebrated as Flag Day. Are you secretly, or not so secretly, thinking, “So what?” Other than kids in school, who celebrates Flag Day? When I was first looking at the calendar and contemplating a blog topic for this week, I breezed by “Flag Day”, because let's face it, it doesn't seem that sexy. I confess... I actually thought it might be too boring, but then I did a little research and thought about what our flag really represents.

When our founding fathers declared their independence, they weren't a bunch of teens rebelling against their parents by stealing the keys to a shiny new country and taking it out for a spin. Declaring independence meant putting everything, including their lives, on the line for a belief. That had to have been one of the most difficult, gut-wrenching decisions to make. How many of us today would have the courage to do such a thing?

With the struggle won and independence achieved, you know that our founders wanted to create a flag that represented the culmination of that struggle. On June 14, 1777, the second Continental Congress adopted a resolution that read: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union of thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.” A “new constellation”... that is pretty powerful.

Our constellation of thirteen states that united to form a new country has grown to become a constellation of fifty states remaining united as a country and our flag today still represents this unity. Our country has had its share of struggles, but this “constellation” grew into a world power. I wonder if our founding fathers had any inkling of what the United States would become. Hopefully they would be proud that even today we value and try to maintain the same principles that they had when creating our country.

If you want to learn more about our flag, check out these resources:

Speaking of our constellation, I will be out for the next 2 weeks on vacation in our 49th state, Alaska. I will be back in time for July 4th and my next blog will continue with this theme of independence,  principles and the establishment of our country.

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