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DEL.ICIO.US9-year-old sets example for all
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forget the tears.
Put aside, for a minute, whether you think it’s disrespectful to paint a U.S. flag on the ground in a cul-de-sac. Or that to do so defaces property.
Let’s focus on character traits. Stuff we don’t see enough of. Things like humility, strength and responsibility.
Rachel Renbarger exudes them. She’s the 9-year-old girl in Duluth who, with her sister, innocently painted an American flag in the center of her subdivision’s cul-de-sac. It was a July 4 project, but this well-intended civics project turned sour.
A World War II veteran considered the image disrespectful. Restore the flag’s dignity by removing the image, he implored.
City officials likened the painting to graffiti, a comical assertion to those of us who live in southwest Gwinnett.
We know graffiti. We’d welcome the image of a flag as opposed to what we see every day.
The flag flap took on a life of its own. National media took notice. Residents took sides on whether to let it stay or pressure wash it. While everybody got worked up, Rachel stepped up.
She and her father did some research on Old Glory — how to properly display it. They learned that an image on the ground — one that people can walk on and where dogs can do their business — wasn’t befitting of a national symbol. It violated the dignity of the flag.
So last week, a tearful Rachel addressed the Duluth City Council.
“I am so sorry,” the fourth-grader said. “We will do whatever it takes to remove it — me and my sister. I am so sorry.”
We witness countless situations in which CEOs, politicians, athletes and other newsmakers do wrong, then blatantly pass the buck. Seldom do they express remorse or accept responsibility. It’s their world. Nothing else really matters.
Sadly, they don’t get what Rachel apparently already knows. That with actions come consequences. Sometimes repercussions. And that regardless of the outcome, you have to deal with it.
“It’s nice to see someone with accountability,” wrote Marcus Spencer in the Badie blog.
“It’s even better when they might have trouble even spelling the word. At least some parents are doing their job nowadays.”
Initially, Rachel’s image and the brouhaha that ensued grabbed our attention. But when all has been said and done, when the flag is removed by city officials later this year, that’s not what we should remember.
Let’s remember the poignant way she stood before a group of adults, told the truth, apologized, then offered to help fix the problem.
Then, let’s try to emulate her.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Michael H. Smith
January 15, 2006 02:36 AM | Link to this
It violated the dignity of the flag?
Okay Rick where do we start the list on that one and when pray tell might that list end?
Lets see now: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of American and “TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS�.
A Republic is a nation of LAWS, violating the laws of this land is walking on, taking a dump on, and disrespecting the very thing that FLAG represents!
Yeah you betcha Mr. Badie, let the City of Duluth be first in line to emulate Rachel by closing down the illegal alien day labor center operating in that City, which in violation of federal law is defecating all over what that Flag stands for – our REPUBLIC a nation under law.
By Bruce Wilcox
January 15, 2006 09:07 AM | Link to this
Rachel is a brave girl for taking the heat for her father. As you pointed out “She and her father did some research on Old Glory — how to properly display it.” after the fact. Too bad that her father, an adult, never learned the basic’s of flag etiquette. The schools should take notice, a lesson every Flag Day would be a great time to teach basic flag etiquette and the whys. Hopefully the students could pass the knowledge onto their parents, which is clearly needed.
By Deborah Lee
January 15, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this
Now would parents stand up and please admit that buying toilet paper and letting their little darlings roam the neighborhoods on Friday and Saturday nights and entering private property and rolling toilet paper all over the trees is also against the law and should not be tolerated. Some one is going to get in trouble or hurt and the parents will make the same excuse, “I did not know that it was illegal to trash someone else’s property. I just thought that they were being cute”.
By Elmore
January 15, 2006 02:13 PM | Link to this
I can’t seem to leave this one alone. Just missed the deadline on my “letter to the editor” last week. So, I offer some of it here: I need to tell somebody how outraged I feel toward the adults who were willing to allow that little girl to shoulder responsibility for their own guilt, embarrassment and ignorance. They should be forever ashamed.
Good intentions notwithstanding, the painting of the flag on the pavement was a mistake, and the grownups who promoted it, but should have known better, seem too arrogant to admit their error and, instead, hide behind the sincere tears of a child.
We all make mistakes. We can correct them and move on. I think, however, that the using of this little girl is absolutely unforgivable.
By walter Urbanski
January 20, 2006 10:38 AM | Link to this
Rick, I enjoyed your column on Rachel and the flag in the street. While I dont agree with painting our flag on any street Rachel is an inspiration for owning up to her mistake. She should be remembered for her honesty. Why not leave one of the stars on the street and put her name in it.