If you watched the news this morning, you saw images of the American flag being flown from poles, peaks and pinnacles… from the sides of buildings and ships… from atop Mount Everest and on the moon. Our flag is so much more than a piece of fabric imprinted with stars and stripes.
The seven red and six white stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well: red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. Those qualities have been a reason to be proud for more than 200 years. They are especially important today as we remember and pay homage to the thousands of people who gave their lives not only on September 10, 2011, but in the 23 years since that horrific day.
I remember that immediately after 9/11 an attempt was made to remove all images of the Twin Towers from news reels, films, post cards, and photographs. The reason given was that it would be too painful for those who had lost loved ones in the attack. Then, like now, I had mixed emotions. I am certainly cognizant of the renewed heartbreak families feel every time the World Trade Center is seen or mentioned. I also fear that if we do not remember... if we do not continually invoke that painful memory... we will be forced to relive that tragedy in real time.
That is not an unrealistic expectation. Think back over the last few decades. While there have always been and will always be people who want to destroy the values that make America great, the push to rub a gigantic eraser across our country’s history has never been as prevalent as now.
Since the flag represents all that is good about America, we must ask ourselves why so many people are devoid of shame when desecrating it. You cannot change the past by rewriting it but you can do great harm to the future by not remembering it. For example, consider the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag.
While I believe that the Confederate flag should be removed from a position of prominence on government buildings, I would not like to see it and other symbols of the Civil War relegated to a shelf in a dusty closet or a pile of ash and rubble. Rather, I would like to see the flag displayed in a glass case in the lobby of every capital. I would like to see every statue/monument placed in a Hall of History along with well-written, truthful narratives of the who, what and why of each item – before, during and after the Civil War.
I am aware that whoever writes each state’s history could do so from the perspective of how they would prefer it to be remembered and not as it was. However, if government buildings did display truthful narratives that proved to be false, then the chance of people seeing them and demanding changes would happen more frequently and peacefully. I actually hope situations like this arise because the more attention we pay to false narratives, the quicker we will reach a version of the truth that is palatable for all people.
I do understand wanting to hold onto something with a familial significance, and for many Southerners, the Confederate flag is not merely a memento. The flag is heavy with historic symbolism. It is a family heirloom and, as such, exudes a strong emotional power. However, the passage of time has a way of changing how we see history. No one is suggesting we should forget the men who fought and died in the Civil War. The exact opposite is true.
We do not talk enough about the Civil War, which was the most costly engagement in terms of human life in our country’s history. However, the Confederate flag’s original meaning has been lost. You can thank narrow-minded people for turning a strip of cloth into a symbol of hate.
Consider that the Iron Cross so closely associated with Hitler’s antisemitic regime is actually a military decoration and was first awarded in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars. Like the Confederate flag, it has taken on a different meaning because certain people used it for nefarious reasons. My husband has an iron cross which was awarded to his maternal grandfather during WWI. He keeps it in his drawer as a remembrance of heroic deeds performed under inhuman conditions. He would never think to display it publicly because he knows that some of our friends would misunderstand and be hurt by what would seem like a disregard for their suffering.
People of the Jewish faith do not shirk from the memory of the Holocaust. Rather, they embrace those horrific events because by doing so they hope to prevent a recurrence. Their diligence has informed society of the ever-present danger of history repeating itself. Since evil is always with us, by keeping the images – the photographs, the remnants of life in the prison camps – in public view, we have an advantage over our enemies.
This is how we should approach every distasteful chapter of America’s history. Display all images. Talk about every incident. Encourage polite and intelligent discourse. Only then will we move forward rather than continuing to look back in hatred.
I vividly remember having a discussion with the father of one of my son’s high school classmates. This man was of African American ancestry and he was deeply troubled. In conversation, he revealed that while watching the mini-series The Blue and the Grey, his daughter, a senior, had asked him what the movie was about. His answer, The Civil War, elicited the response, “What war is that?” “How…,” he asked with distress palpable in his voice, “… could she not know about the Civil War?”
Today, as we look back and remember our family members and friends… our fellow Americans and all those who lost their lives in the unthinkable, unimaginable tragedy that was 9/11, let us learn from history. Let us talk with our sons and daughters about the whys that make the senseless loss of lives possible. Only then can we be confident that in years to come no child will ask, “What war is that?”
Donna Carbone is the Executive Director/Playwright in Residence at the Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts, where education through entertainment is the mission statement.
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