Fun with Flags ~ Stars and Stripes part 2

Greetings Dear Reader,

You have a constitutional right to burn the flag.  The Supreme Court has made it clear that this expression is protected under the first amendment.  As I mentioned yesterday legal and wise can be two very different things.  We do need to consider the hypocrisy of burning the flag if we are American citizens.

I have friends that I love dearly who have begun to see that only the freedoms they value are worth protecting.  They rant against our system of government and spew obscenities about our leadership.  They exercise the freedom provided under out flag to hate the nation that provides it.

We have some very serious problems as a nation.   I do not, however, see people clamoring to get out.  I do see thousands of people choose a hard existence here over remaining in their home country.  We need more social justice.  We need to assure that all things are done with equity.  

The hypocrisy is that most others systems of government will not allow you to protest in this way.  They wish to impose their laws over your freedom to descent.   If you want to overthrow democracy you wish to overthrow the freedoms that allow you to wish to overthrow it.  It does not work.

I am not blind to the injustices that still exist.  I think there is a greater one.  It is the injustice of destroying the symbol instead of working for the cause.  I mean really working.  Protesting draws attention in almost all its forms but it does not create the change.  It is the everyday work that is required by everyone in every moment.  Working for genuine change is what makes a difference. 

As a man of faith, I am required to obey the laws of my government.  Unless that law violates human rights, I must peacefully work for change or accept the law.  Further, I am required to respect and pray for my political leaders no matter how I feel about their lives, politics, or social media.  No matter my opinion of the person in the oval office, the governor’s mansion, or the senate seat, I am required to love him or her.  I cannot follow Christ if I equivocate this in any way.

You are free to burn the flag.  I wonder, however, if one can do so with a heart filled by love and grace?  I know that I cannot hate anyone with a clear conscience.  There are people I want to hate.  I must discipline my own mind and heart to be free from that.  I must be respectful and work for peace and justice through peace and justice.  To me, burning the flag is not a peaceful act. 

Freedom Never Cries – Five for Fighting

I took a flag to a pawn shop
For a broken guitar
I took a flag to a pawn shop
How much is that guitar
I took a flag to a pawn shop
I got me that guitar
What's a flag in a pawn shop to me?

I saw a man on the TV
In a mask with a gun
A man on the TV
He had a ten year old son
I saw a man on the TV
His son had a gun
And he says that he's coming for me

.

I never loved the soldier until there was a war
Or thought about tomorrow
'Til my baby hit the floor
I only talk to God when somebody's about to die
I never cherished freedom
Freedom never cries

I wrote a song for a dead man
To settle my soul
A song for a dead man
And now I'll never grow old
I wrote a song for a dead man
Now I'm out in the cold
What's a song to a dead man to me?

I never loved the soldier until there was a war
Or thought about tomorrow
'Til my baby hit the floor
I only talk to God when somebody's about to die
I never cherished freedom
Freedom never cries

You can cry for her
Die for her
Lay down your life for her
Kiss and wave goodbye to her
Anything at all

You can cry for her
Die for her
Make up your mind to her
Anything at all, oh

There's a baby on the doorstep
Wailing away
There's a baby on the doorstep
Longing for the day
There's a baby on the doorstep
Who'd give his life to take
A flag to a pawn shop
A flag to a pawn shop

May he forget why he is crying some day

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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