Why I Took Those Flags

There’s an area off Route 70 (a small two-lane highway that goes through my town) that’s kind of like a very small rest area. There’s nothing in it but dirt and trees. No benches or tables. For the past several months, people have been putting flags on the mounds of dirt in this area. At first, they were American flags. The number of flags changed every few days and the directions they were facing would also change. Then, other flags were mixed in. There was a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at one point, but that disappeared fairly quickly.

These flags always bothered me. As a daughter of a 22-year Army Veteran who served in Vietnam, my father respected the flag. My Dad would gripe about what he called “flag-waving patriots.” He said every 4th of July these yuppies would dust off their flags to hang on their porch. In other words, they were fans of the flag. Fanaticism is quite different than respect.

Seeing these flags bothered me because they were not up to US Code. They were bolted onto long, thin rails; they were touching the ground; they were left out at night and were not illuminated with any light; they were left in inclement weather and I highly doubt they were all-weather flags. I always thought about doing something about it, but never got around to it. Life gets busy and people where I live do shit like this all the time.

But over the past couple months leading up to the election, I noticed that more were being put up. Every few days there would be a change either in the direction they were facing or the patterns of where they were placed. I began thinking that this was some kind of code between people who were possibly plotting some nefarious rebellion. It’s easy to be paranoid when people decide they are going to put other people’s lives in danger by shutting down the Parkway for the idiotic purpose of cheering on their favorite candidate.

What crossed the line for me was a flag with no blue field. A flag with 13 stripes (representing the original 13 colonies), but no blue field (representing the Union) and no stars (representing the 50 states). A flag like this is not the American flag. And in my mind, an act of aggression. The symbolism represents a denouncement of the Union — “The United” part of this country. Next to it was a flag with 13 stripes, a blue field, but only about a dozen or so stars. I haven’t counted them, but the stars weren’t in a circle like one of the older versions.

So, I took them.

I had some free time, so I drove to the spot. I called the local police department. I was told that yes, it was public property and that no, the police were not going to respond to this. I told the dispatcher that I was going to take the flags and she said it was fine. I picked them up, threw them in my car. Less than 5 minutes later, a black Ford pulls up. I start videotaping — just in case. I write down the license plate number. The car pulls up next to me and the woman asks me if I knew what happened to the flags. I told her that I took them. She asked why. I told her they were inappropriate and listed all the reasons mentioned above. Then I talked about the two that were not American flags. I asked her if she was disturbed by the one with no blue field nor stars. She deflected and said that she felt bad for the people who liked them being there. She also noticed that the flags changed, but denied knowing why.

She said she thought a sign should be put up to inform people of why the flags were taken down. I asked her if she knew the people who put them up. She said no, which was obviously a lie. The fact that she lied about this indicates to me that the people who put the flags there didn’t want to be identified. They want their identities kept secret because they know this is subversive behavior. Moving on.

A quick google search showed several credible sources that explained the proper way to display the flag. I gave her this info and encouraged her to pass it along. She took the information and agreed to do so (yep, she knows these people). It’s not my responsibility to educate these zealots as to why their abuse of the flag is wrong. If you profess to care about the American flag and are willing to start a fight over it, you should know. However, I’m willing to talk with anyone who is willing to have a civil conversation.

As we talked, we both learned that we had something in common. We both had relatives who recently died from illnesses related to Agent Orange, which they were exposed to when they served in Vietnam. This made me think that maybe a lot of the angry White Trump worshipers in my town are angry for legitimate reasons. But they are incredibly misinformed, which is dangerous when mixed with such rage.

People say they are willing to die for this flag. Love it or leave it. These are the people who talk about civil war. It’s time to reevaluate what it means to be a patriot. Otherwise, what are we fighting for? I said to the woman at the rest area that we are on the same side. I said it twice. I’m going back in a few days to see if anything has changed. My Mom said she is going to burn the two fake flags. Perhaps I’ll come back with more material for her fire. Anyway, I know my Dad would be proud as hell.