Sunday, May 27, 2012

Happy Memorial Day!

These colors don't run...
...they just fade!

In Taos earlier this month, at an inn where we used to stay (since purchased by a major chain and converted into time shares), I couldn't resist taking photos of this flag adorning its entryway. Pausing not once but twice over two days to photograph it, I noticed on a third visit there the faded, bedraggled Old Glory had been replaced with a vibrant new flag!

Visible from the check-in desk in its expansive lobby, Dada couldn't help suspecting he may have played a role in the replacement of the tattered banner, brought to the attention of the staff as I had photographed it.

I am sad to report that the brand new flag, which replaced this one, is tattered and faded as well. It's just that many Americans, displaying it proudly this weekend, still don't see it as such. Don't see what it's become.

Happy Memorial Day.

6 comments:

Fran said...

How much of this red white & blue regalia is *MADE IN CHINA* anyway?

Try to find a US flag that is made in America.
Not an easy task.

Cindy Sheehan has a good rant about FreeDUMB

http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2012/05/freedumb-by-cindy-sheehan.html

D.K. Raed said...

I must be a terrible person because I just don't get the whole flag hoopla. To me, it's just a design on a piece of material. But I once lost a friend by voicing that opinion, so now I tend to keep such thoughts to myself. I do like your pic, though ... mainly the dappled sun through the leaves.

Dada said...

Fran: Thanks for the Sheehan link. Enjoyed it a bunch. We were "friends" on Facebook but I recently suspended my account. Too much clutter to read with *friends* displaying their agendas -- much as I did -- only often far different from my own. (This speaks to Deke's friend loss because of irreconcilable opinions over a piece of cloth. But more on that in a moment.)

Anyway, in her rant, Sheehan used the term for those former soldiers throwing back their military medals recently as "man scout badges" which really chorded with me because it's the same thing I call "Boy Scout Bull Shit" for men whose stunted prefrontal lobes never matured beyond the adolescent "Hooyah" stage their military masters like to exploit to get kids to dodge bullets (or die) for monied special interests in the name of preserving our *Freedom*! Bull Shit, indeed.

And I agree with you, Deke, re those colorful rags from around the world, each as "ET 101" referred to as representing a nation's own particular brand of dysfunctions to which it subscribes. It's sad that such subscriptions can result in the dissolution of friendships. But I have experienced same, most recently on FB. (Truthfully, I can say it wasn't that big 'a loss.)

Having just watched Jolie's very dark "In the Land of Blood and Honey" as a way of honoring those celebrated who lost their lives in war this past weekend, who knows? We may all end up shooting each other here. Not just because of our varying ethnicities, but our the differing ideologies and impassioned opinions we embrace on such things as man scout badges and pieces of cloth? -- You know, the things that REALLY matter!

D.K. Raed said...

so sorry to hear you felt it necessary to suspend rather than face. it's kind of galling to me to always feel it necessary to stow my thoughts when others feel so free to offend my sensibilities. to remedy that, we are attending a "come out" party next month ... an exciting and rare thing ... finding other progressives in UT who we may be able to loosen up around. don't know why I find it so hard to be just as offensive as the gun-luvin freedom-flag-wavin real murican, but I do. let's just hope it doesn't turn out like that seinfeld episode where Jerry was so happy to finally find someone who shared his dislike of dentists only to be repelled by their equally vocal hatred of things dear to Jerry (the "anti-dentite" episode).

Dada said...

So, Deke, is it now 'next month'? If so, will be curious how your search for similar minds turns out. Keep us posted.

And perhaps your difficulty to be just as offensive as the gun-luvin freedom-flag-wavin real muricans hints of a civility and sensitivity you still possess that more and more of us seem to be losing? Thing is, bullets hurt feelings far more, but I guess that's the point being embraced by real muricans these days?

Dominic Benton said...

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