Respect Goes Deeper

September 20, 2016   

            There has been a Facebook exchange recently highlighting a video of President Obama without his hand over his heart for a playing of the National Anthem.  The writer implies in CAPS that President Obama REFUSED to place his hand over his heart thereby showing disrespect for our country. 

            I have gone years without putting my hand on my heart.  For a long time, I was taught it was a choice and I chose to stand in respectful attention with my arms at my sides singing with all my heart.  The flag and my country were always and are still dear to me. 

            As I’ve gotten older, I’ve questioned some of the things I/we do automatically— because it has always been done.  I’ve come to a conclusion in this case.  Please hear me out.  The flag is a piece of cloth with our country’s symbolic design.  Other countries could have the same piece of cloth made with their symbols.  The cloth is not sacred, nor is the design.  It is A Symbol of our ideals and as such holds deep symbolic meaning for the people of our Nation.  It deserves our respect.  The National Anthem is also a symbol of love for our nation.  It too calls for our respect. 

            For me it goes deeper.  Deeper than the flag.  Deeper than the Anthem.  Respect may be shown in placing our hand over our heart.  It may also be shown by kneeling on one knee or by standing respectfully with hands at your sides. (I’m not sure about the whooping and hollering that goes on before the anthem is even finished at ball games, but sharing a good time is also part of our nation’s past-time.)   

            However, the hateful vitriol that is spewed in some places and at some times almost before the National Anthem fades away does not show respect for our Nation or our Anthem.  It does not show respect for people or the constitution.  Showing respect for our symbols—the flag, the Pledge, and the National Anthem—must go further and deeper than a hand over our heart.  It must honor the complexity and diversity of the many people who make up our nation.  It must reach into our heart and love us into being the loving, accepting, welcoming, diverse and united nation our forefathers and mothers dreamed of and that I trust we continue to strive to be.