Soiling the flag

I've come to expect that when the mean streets of the Middle East get prime time coverage, I'll see an American flag in tatters and afire, torched with purpose by those who loathe the United States and everything about us.

I am no longer surprised by Americans who do not know that clothing made from the flag dishonors our national symbol, and that writing on it or dragging it in the dirt shows little regard for it. Ever since Jim Craig draped the Stars and Stripes about his shoulders, it's become the norm for athletes to inappropriately--and quite unknowingly--drape our flag about their shoulders.

It's a different thing for a sitting President to abase the flag.

Now, I understand that the Christian is commanded to pray for those in authority over him (1 Timothy 2:1-2). This should not surprise the believer because if he has drunk deep of God's word to him, he would know full well that it is only by God's hand that any comes to power (Daniel 2:21, 5:21, Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-14). This does not mean that the Christian must hold his tongue regarding the conduct of one's leaders. To that end, I write.

President Barack Obama has done much to tarnish the office of the President of the United States and thereby denigrate our country. It did not take long for our President to begin bowing to sovereigns around the world to include those who have little regard for civil rights or putting his feet on a desk gifted to us in 1880 by Queen Elizabeth. In pursuing a second term as our President, he continues to show little regard for the greatness of our nation and our symbols. To show what an edgy and hep individual he is, his campaign has offered these posters to festoon the walls of his supporters:

Did you hear the outcry? Did anyone even notice? Mark Steyn recognized the desecration of the flag for what it was when he wrote:

I see the Obama campaign has redesigned the American flag, and very attractive it is too. Replacing the 50 stars of a federal republic is the single “O” logo symbolizing the great gaping maw of spendaholic centralization. And where the stripes used to be are a handful of red daubs, eerily mimicking the bloody finger streaks left on the pillars of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as its staff were dragged out by a mob of savages to be tortured and killed. What better symbol could one have of American foreign policy?

Did you know that such is a desecration of the flag? From the Flag Code:

The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.

In fact, to do such within the District of Columbia is considered a misdemeanor. Wholly apart from the criminal aspect, such a brazen display shows little regard for our national heritage, and like using the Oval Office for "extracurriculars," shows a hubris and narcissism inappropriate for a town clerk much less the President of the United States. There has been enough of a ruckus that the poster has since been pulled, but how is it that the leader of the greatest nation on the planet and his minions have no concept of the value of our national treasures?

Perhaps our next President will comport himself in a manner worthy of the office he holds both in the international arena and within the comfortable borders of his own country.

Bilbo's song

There was a time when a poet wasn't considered less of a man and when folks longed to hear the latest poetry. Not so much anymore. Oh, we'll still listen to a poem if it's cranking through our iPod, but even then, it's the hook and the music that grabs our attention more than the lyric. Do you remember the last song that really made you think and wonder?

In an era when movies reside at our fingertips and video games can be played with friends around the country (and the world), who wants to hear a poem? Our kids bounce from game to game and noise to noise in a sea of constant audio and visual stimulation. How many children read? We're stunting their imaginations. There's little we can do for our kids of greater value than reading good stories to our kids and demanding that they use their minds to consider the words.

In the midst of my reading The Fellowship of the Ring to my daughters, I came across one of Bilbo's poems, one he recited before the Fellowship departed from Rivendell from the melancholy of his heart, and it touched me. In the midst of my middle age, the poem picked at my heart strings. Who was this J. R. R. Tolkien who could create lands and creatures in vivid prose and yet craft such poignant poems that don't distract from the tale but add startling and unexpected hues, who in the middle of a story about good and evil, halflings and Ringwraiths, could insert a poem that would bless a near-fifty year old man in north Texas?

For my friends who are fast approaching or have recently broached their fiftieth year, I offer you this poem by Bilbo Baggins from The Fellowship of the Ring.  Enjoy.

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.