Round 2 entry

The sound of cannon fire echoed over the battlefield and made Tom flinch. Ahead, he could see the redcoats marching in formation to meet them. This was it, he thought as he looked left and right down the line of militia that was to face off against one of the most powerful fighting forces in the world.

Looking to his left, he saw his friend Martin. But it was not the look of terror on his friend’s face that held his attention. It was the wooden pole he held in his hands. It was the shaft of the new flag. It looked marvellous as it fluttered in the breeze, all its colours still bright and unmarred by time.

Then time was up. The redcoats stopped dead thirty yards away and began to follow their orders to read muskets.

Top nearly dropped his as he raised it to his shoulder and pulled the trigger on the order to fire. He didn’t know if his captain had told him, or he had fired on the orders of the enemy. Frankly, he didn’t care.

For an eternity that was little over a minute, the two lines of guns exchanged fire. Men fell dead on the spot, their positions left empty in the lines as no one dared to step up to take the next bullet.

Then he heard it.

“CHARGE!!!”

With his emotions built up on fear and adrenaline, he started to run forward to meet the enemy close up. Ahead and to his left, he saw Martin fall with a bullet to the head. His friend had died and as he ran slower due to shock, he saw the glorious fabric of the flag droop towards the ground.

“NO!” yelled Tom as he ran forward, dropping his musket and scrambling for the flag.

His hands closed round the cool firmness of the pole and he felt a calmness radiate through his body. Then and there, holding that red, white and blue flag, he knew that he was fighting for the right side. He was fighting for truth, justice and a new way of life.

For many hundreds of years, flags all over the world have acted as symbols for the people who live under them. In medieval Europe, the highest honour a lowly serf could achieve in battle was to carry the flag for his lord. Similarly, it was an offence for that flag to fall in battle (as such it was often seen warriors dropping their weapon to pick the flag up if the standard bearer fell), and even worse for that flag to be captured by the enemy.

Why?

The flag, as said, is a symbol. It is a representation of all that the people who live under it believe in. In the case of the Stars and Stripes, that a culmination of western civilisations beliefs… Liberty, democracy, justice.

It is understandable that some people find the destruction of this symbol distressing. But it is simply done by those who wish to disturb the day-to-day ‘normal’ lives of others. It also happens to be ironic that, in burning the flag, the dissidents are expressing the liberty that it represents. After all, without liberty, they would not be allowed to burn the flag!

Coming at it from the opposite side, it has been suggested that people who burn the flag should be imprisoned. This is dangerous ground. Essentially it would mean imprisoning people for expressing their views. It would undermine Liberty and that is unacceptable.

Without a doubt, burning the American flag is a liberty that was forged in blood.

The war of independence bought the foundations for the Bill of Rights, which has no mention of restrictions on liberty (at least after amendments to include women and ethnic minorities). So it is perfectly legal for the flag to be burnt.

To conclude, it comes down to this… Keep your liberty and allow the flag to be burnt to express it, or erode the liberty and keep your flags flying high but change their symbolism to represent repression of liberty.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots…” The words of Thomas Jefferson, said so long ago now, are a chilling truth. For as long as there has been freedom, there have been those who want to take it away. Liberty is often won through hard fighting, but seems all too easy to loose.