Patriotic traditions of the pledge and flag-folding
The United States of America is a young nation. Yet we have traditions designed to promote the values and principles we uphold. Though a youthful nation, these customs have already helped to inculcate American values into each generation.
On Independence Day, I lined the walkway leading to my front door with small, inexpensive flags. I made certain that whichever way the wind blew that day, the little banners would not brush the ground.
Later, as we watched a parade from our lawn chairs, we rose to our feet and placed our hands over our hearts as the national banner passed by. It’s automatic to me after pledging my allegiance throughout my school days, yet I feel a swell of patriotic love and gratitude when I do it.
The Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t go back as far in our history as the governing principles it espouses. The pledge was written by a socialist, Francis Bellamy. His intent was that the pledge would work for any nation in the world. It was first published in 1892 in The Youth’s Companion. His version read, “I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
The idea that all the world would be governed by republics and desire liberty and justice for all was lofty indeed. But since oppression and injustice are the order of most of the world, the pledge never caught on.
The salute to the flag also was performed differently at first. A uniformed military member was to salute with the palm facing down held beside the right eyebrow. When the words “the flag” were stated, he was to extend his arm with the hand rigid toward the flag and hold it in that position while finishing the salute. Nonuniformed citizens were to place the hand over the heart and similarly point to the flag when mentioned.
As the rumble of World War I approached, the words “to the United States of America” were added.
The salute was further altered when Germans adopted the “heil Hitler” salute that seemed similar to our flat-palmedarm extended salute. Public policy was changed to keep the hand over the heart or at the brow throughout the salute to make the distinction.
In 1954, as America’s religious ideals were threatened by cold war communism, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Congress to add the words, “under God” to the pledge. This fluid development of the pledge distinguishes American values as other nations around the world deviate from the principles of freedom, personal liberty and equal representation and protection for all Americans.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
Similar traditions promote values in the proper folding of the American flag. Just as the flag itself has symbolism embedded in its various elements, the folding of the flag reinforces those symbols.
The flag is folded lengthwise with the stripes folded over the top of the starry, blue field. The flag is then folded again with the starry field encasing the end of the flag. The striped end is folded once so the corner meets the folded edge in a triangular fold. Each triangular fold has national and religious symbolism.
Such things as mortal life, eternal life, honor of mothers and fathers, Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the honor and fidelity to our nation are represented by each fold of the flag. Finally, the red of honored dead and the purity of our quest for freedom for all represented by the stripes are enfolded in the starry heavens as mortality is encompassed in the heavens.
When the flag is unfurled at dawn, and the red and white emerge from the night, it symbolizes the resurrection of the dead.
We honor our flag by protecting it from touching the ground as we protect our nation from taint of unworthy objectives and the dishonor of defeat.
President George W. Bush met with emigrant Lopez Lomong before the 2008 Olympics as Lomong prepared to bear our nations colors in the Olympic procession. The president reminded the athlete not to let the flag touch the ground. After the ceremony, Lomong reported that his hands ached from holding the flag so tightly.
We are defined by our traditions. Our traditions are an expression of our values.
Only in America, God Bless it.