The Civil War was new in 1861 when Brooklyn’s 14th Regiment, soon bound for battle, heard these words from abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher: “A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not the flag, but the nation itself.”
That’s still food for thought in 2026, as this American prepares to exchange his wind-worn national flag for a new one.
Old Glory has waved proudly atop our 20-foot flagpole for all the 24 years we have occupied this pleasant hobby farm in Greenville’s Apple Valley. We call it Shalom Acres, “shalom” meaning “peace” in Hebrew.
New England weather being what it is, outdoor flags take a beating and must often be replaced. So imagine my delight when a service-oriented charity offered a flag to anyone who donated at least twenty bucks. Our banner arrived ready for duty – tightly folded and pressed crisp as a drill sergeant’s fatigues.
Our flag display is pacific, even though flags today can evoke aggression as well as patriotism. Who hasn’t tried to steer clear of a pickup truck flying one from the cargo deck? And some pro-Trump home displays evoke all the welcome of a “Beware of Dog” sign.
Still, down our American generations few objects have evoked so many patriotic words. Even in song, Rhode Island’s own George M. Cohan extolled our Grand Old Flag as “the emblem of the land I love,” and declared, “forever in peace may you wave.”
President Ronald Reagan asserted, “When we honor our flag we honor what we stand for as a nation — freedom, equality, justice, and hope.”
President Calvin Coolidge said, “We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on Earth – peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home.”
Actor John Wayne declared, “Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave?”
But all has not been apple pie in perceptions of the flag.
Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver, discussing the dangers of uber-patriotism, once worried that by the actions of some our flag might also reflect “intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder.”
If you sense a current-events ring to that, feel no shame.
The working-class philosopher Eric Hoffer believed, “No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion, it is an evil government.”
Back in 1861, abolitionist Beecher told the 14th Regiment, “Our flag carries American ideas, American history and American feelings.”
On some fine sunlit day in early spring, I’ll run our new version of Old Glory up the flagpole. When it unfurls in a fresh breeze, I wonder – if our government continues as it has– what soiled nation I might glimpse in those billowing stars and stripes.
Gerry Goldstein (gerryg76@verizon.net), a frequent contributor, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist.
