There was a gentleman that lived down the block from my childhood home. He had a flagpole in his yard. Most of the houses in the neighborhood had poles angled off the front stoop
…but this house on the corner had a pole cemented in the lawn with flood lights underneath.
The gentleman that lived there was older than my father. He was tall, thin and walked with a limp. He also had a plastic hand.
As a kid that pole must have been one hundred feet tall. I figure looking back that it was probably twenty-five maybe thirty feet high.
My neighbor always took his flag down for bad weather. He lowered it half-staff when the President declared that state. Because it was lit he left it up most nights.
The only time during the week it wasn’t displayed was Saturday night into Sunday morning. The gentleman would raise it back up when he returned from Sunday Mass. He also took it down on Christmas and Easter. My dad found out that those days were assigned for Jesus and Americans must stand aside for holy days and Sunday.
Christmas Eve, Holy Saturday and every Saturday at sundown the neighbor down the street played “Taps” when he lowered his flag.
Our neighbor was a veteran of the Second World War. He fought for our country and that gave him the honor to fly the big flag down the block.
I rode my bike past that flag every morning to school and back home in the afternoon. I was safe from japs and nazis because of that flag and the man who took meticulous care for it.
On Veterans Day he would have a man play the bagpipe at eleven o’clock in the morning. The neighbors all walked outside and listened. The last song was always “Amazing Grace.”
Tears ran down my fathers cheeks when he heard that song. Just like my father, tears run down my cheeks when I hear the John Newton hymn.
Today is the eleventh day of the eleventh month. When we were kids there was a generation that was living that called it Armistice Day. We all know it as Veterans Day.
I learned a poem in high school that I had to memorize for a class. The name of the poem was “In Flanders Field.” In my adult years I’ve begun a tradition to recite that poem on the 11th day of November.
The flag pole no longer stands on the block in my old neighborhood. The traditions held strong by the Greatest Generation don’t have the same values for the following ages.
Today’s generation fly flags for their local football team, their ancestor’s flag and political statement flags. Kansas City Chief flags, Gay Pride flags and Ukrainian Flags outnumber The Stars and Stripes.
Take the time today to read “Flanders Field.” Take the time to recite “The Pledge of Allegiance” and thank a Veteran for giving you the freedom to fly your Cubs Pride flag.
I’m just a good old Catholic kid who loves the BVM, Christmas movies, ice cream cones, parades, backyard parties, church bells, the Sunday paper, summer dresses, hotdogs, the Army vs Navy football game and White Hen Pantry.
I get to love my kids, walk down the river early in the morning and drive to a good job because The American Soldier and Jesus Christ gave their life so I can live mine.
I also get to put a smile on the sun and flirt with hot moms because of those that I just mentioned.
Go out there and enjoy this fantastic autumn day. Put some love in your crockpot, in your smile and in between your sheets.
…. God Bless America and all the good it stands for.
