Each Day Already is a Challenge

June 14

Today is Flag Day.

When I was a kid, we always flew the flag on important days - Fourth of July, Flag Day, Memorial Day. I guess I always figured that Flag Day was the day we celebrated the flag and, perhaps, Betsy Ross for having created the first one.

I never thought much more about it. Today, I set out to learn some more.

Did you know:

...that Flag Day was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916. On August 3, 1919, President Truman signed an Act of Congress making June 14th National Flag Day.

...that the whole idea of Flag Day was probably started by a teacher in Wisconsin - BJ Cigrand - back in 1885.

Or did you know:

...that in 1914, Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a Flag Day address and said these words: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself." He said the flag had spoken those words to him that morning.

Boy, if the flag represents who we are, we surely have changed over the years. I wonder what our forefathers think as they gaze down upon us. That we've ruined everything for which they fought? That the instruments and documents they designed for us were backed by a sound set of moral values that we have lost?

Yes, today is Flag Day. You know why I remember that? Because it was also my father's birthday. I think he loved that he was born on Flag Day. Flags waved on his birthday.

"I Miss My Dad"  We celebrated his last earthly birthday two years ago. You know, I think he enjoyed the fact that his birthday - Flag Day - and Father's Day were so close together. It allowed us to celebrate for days.

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I was curious today about the origins of Flag Day. I wandered onto a site about the U.S. flag. http://www.usflag.org/history.html

There, I discovered that we have an American Creed, written by William Tyler Page. He won a nationwide contest, the idea of Henry Sterling Chapin, Commissioner of Education of New York State. That was in 1918, when being patriot was right and proper.

The web site says, "James H. Preston, the mayor of Baltimore, presented an award to Page in the House of Representatives Office Building on April 3, 1918. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the commissioner of education of the state of New York accepted the Creed for the United States, and the proceedings relating to the award were printed in the Congressional Record of April 13, 1918.

Here's the creed:

The American's Creed

"I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the people by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principls of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag, and to defend it againest all enemies."

Have you ever seen the biggest U.S. flag? (And the world's largest flag.) It weighs 3,000 pounds and requires 600 people to unfurl it! http://www.superflag.com/doc/guinness.htm

There are references all over the internet about a live-cam of the tallest flag pole in Dorris, California, but it appears that the live-cam link is dead. But there are still pictures of the town folks hoisting a 30 x 60 ft. flag on this 200 ft. tall pole.
http://dorrislions.homestead.com/fourthflagup.html