You can't separate a Veteran from the national flag. In the United States of America - quite literally so.
Recently, in a truly Kafkaesque turn of events, Veteran Affairs decided to drag an honorable American Veteran to court for the crime of …hanging an American flag on the VA's walls.
The department, already disgraced by its poor treatment of military heroes and plagued by scandals ranking from corruption to medical atrocities, visibly "seized the opportunity" to deal with one more whistleblower the VA's way.
VA's operatives who, according to compulsively "misstating" VA's Secretary McDonald are supposed to treat American Veterans as "VIP customers", managed to define the "crime" of flag hanging as: "C.F.R.1.218 – Security and Law enforcement at VA facilities; a) (9) Distribution of handbills. The distributing of materials such as pamphlets, handbills, and-or flyers, and displaying of placards or posting of materials on bulletin boards or elsewhere on property is prohibited, except as authorized by the head of the facility or when such distributions or displays are conducted as part of authorized Government activities."
No, you can't separate American Veteran from the American flag: If the flag hanging patriot is sent to jail for "displaying of placards", his co-defendant - the American flag will be tried as "a pamphlet, a hand-bill and a flyer' 'in the court of law.
Secretary McDonald, who is a West Point graduate, an ex- P&G employee and an untiring author of countless presentations on "value based leadership:", should know the difference between a flyer and the American flag.
A flyer, known also as a handbill, is a small scale marketing tool, generally in A4-size paper; a pamphlet is a brochure usually used for specific advertising needs of a company and a placard is a sign posted in a public place as an advertisement.
One of the most common '"introductions'" of American Flag figures in "I'm The Flag' 'by Ruth Apperson Rous: "Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I'm your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity / . . . Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth."
During the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Gregory Lee Johnson, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, poured kerosene on American flag and set it on fire.
Johnson was initially charged with vandalizing respected objects, but his conviction was overturned and court deliberations resulted in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S.397, a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag.
Well, it must be a sign of our times: Today, a Veteran who cherishes the American flag and hangs it in protest of the inhumane treatment of our homeless Veterans seems to"deserve" prison.
How about charging the VA with insulting the American flag and with harassing our honorable Vietnam era Veteran? How about honor, Your Honor?
What is the VA trying to turn American flag into: a tool to arrest our Veterans?
Even if Obama's administration workers hopes that democrat Franklin K. Lane's theory that, the American flag is "whatever you make me, nothing more" is practicable, the sacred symbol does not belong to them and has a historically proven ability to survive politicians.
Meanwhile, we can either follow the example of our present Commander-in-Chief, who sometimes does not place hand over heart when the national anthem is played, or stand up for true American symbols: our flag and our Veterans. Tecumseh rightly said: When the legends die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness.
Joanna Rosamond is a Coach for high stress jobs, a consultant on PTSD and burnout. Joanna has 16 years of professional experience. Unconditional support for our soldiers and veterans.
