Columnist Ruthe Deskin: A look back at patriotism

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2002 | 8:19 a.m.

"We've read dissertations on the teacher who would not salute the flag from everyone, including immature, irresponsible children to school officials with doctorates.

Comes now an old-fashioned gal who believes in saluting the flag and thinks we are missing a fundamental principle here.

What was the teacher refusing to salute? He says it was to register opposition to the administration's Vietnam policies.

Is the flag the symbol of one administration or one short period in the history of this country? I think not.

For me, the flag symbolizes:

The vibrant, almost 200-year history of America.

People crossing the Atlantic in overloaded wooden ships to escape oppression in their mother land.

Tax-oppressed Americans tossing tea into the Boston Harbor.

Hardy pioneers suffering untold misery and burying their dead along the westward trails as they pushed back America's great frontiers.

Marines fighting their way up a hill and planting Old Glory in blood-stained earth of Iwo Jima.

An astronaut floating in space; the sonic boom of a jet; and the stately beauty of the fleet passing under the Golden Gate bridge.

Japanese-Americans distinguishing themselves in combat in World War II.

The solemn dignity of rows upon rows of white crosses at Arlington National Cemetery.

Age-old majestic Sequoias in California's national forest; breezes rippling across golden fields of sun-ripened wheat in the Midwest; sunset over Nevada's black rock desert; fat cattle grazing on the great ranges of Wyoming and Colorado; fishing for trout in a mountain stream or trying for bigger game off the coast of Florida; eating a hot dog at the season's first baseball game.

Apple pie and ice cream.

Freedom from fear.

When I stand at attention an repeat the salute to the flag these are the things I remember.

Opposition to an administration's policies can be shown in many ways and as citizens of this country we have the right to speak out, but the flag is a symbol of too many things ... tears and laughter ... great and good men ... farmers plowing the fields ... mean going deep, deep into the earth for gold, silver and coal ... students seeking knowledge in fine universities.

It is my privilege to pay homage to America each time I place my hand over my heart and pledge allegiance to the flag."

And adding a new dimension -- the image of New York firemen raising the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center towers.

Who could ever forget?