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[Guest SaTAnS_SoUlJa]

-Tha_Savage- ]

Its a respect for our country and our flag. There were people who got captured in all the wars who stole their captures material and made US Flags to keep their hopes up. It is not only an American Icon, it is something that other countries look at and wish they had. By the way, these captures got tortured beyond all recognition for doing this but they had to show their lower ranked captures that they would prevail. The American Flag stands for so much more than people realize and the President should respect it more than we do. Even when I'm not in uniform, I do not put my hand over my heart, I salute, because that is showing the utmost respect toward my flag.

 

Sav

 

Amen brother i feel the same way

[SOTG Savage]

John McCain, the Senator from Arizona now, look at this.

 

From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, US, (Rep) who represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate:

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room. This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

 

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old.

 

At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.

 

Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country, and our military, provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle.

 

Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt. Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell, it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

 

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours.

 

Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could. The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag.

 

He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

 

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.

 

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.

 

[banshee07]

Amen to that !!!

[[PHS] Pai_Mei]

Honoring a Symbol is not what we need. We are America, and Americans, with or without that flag. Our Country is not a flag, but several million people who have many of the same goals and desires...To live free, and to have a Just governmment. I don't need anyone to salute, or show respect towards what is ultimately a piece of cloth. What determines our country is our love for it, our devotion to it, and the ability to have free will.

If anything...Our president should be honoring US, THE PEOPLE, as it is us who put them in their place of power. That place is to protect and work for US. That flag represents our 50 states in the United States of America. Last i checked, we are not states that are placing the votes, or volunteering for military service. Our flag is a symbol of our country, not our people...The president is a representative of the people, not a flag.

So for Barak Obama to be looking at the people in respect, is just as honorable to me as saluting the flag.

[xREVERENDx]

ARAS_BOURNE ]

Honoring a Symbol is not what we need. We are America, and Americans, with or without that flag. Our Country is not a flag, but several million people who have many of the same goals and desires...To live free, and to have a Just governmment. I don't need anyone to salute, or show respect towards what is ultimately a piece of cloth. What determines our country is our love for it, our devotion to it, and the ability to have free will.

If anything...Our president should be honoring US, THE PEOPLE, as it is us who put them in their place of power. That place is to protect and work for US. That flag represents our 50 states in the United States of America. Last i checked, we are not states that are placing the votes, or volunteering for military service. Our flag is a symbol of our country, not our people...The president is a representative of the people, not a flag.

So for Barak Obama to be looking at the people in respect, is just as honorable to me as saluting the flag.

Couldn't of said it any better. ;D