Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > October > 12 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOld Glory flies like new
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To him, it was a glaring omission.
Donald F. Zwick noticed it everytime he drove by Hopkins Elementary School on Dickens Road. Old Glory was nowhere to be seen.
“I can say without a doubt that it has been a long time since the flag has been raised on the flagpole,” Zwick told me in an e-mail. “I got upset about that.”
On Oct. 5, Zwick visited the school to find out why. No one in the office seemed to know who was on first.
Or second.
“My mission was unfilled,” Zwick wrote in an e-mail. “As of today, Oct. 10, the flag has still not been raised.”
What’s the bid deal, you ask. After all, it’s just a piece of cloth. A prized symbol, yes. But just that — a symbol. Besides, there’s plenty of ways to honor this country, to show that you appreciate its foundation — faults and all.
For Zwick, a retired arson investigator who lives in Lilburn, this one’s a no-brainer. U.S. public schools ought to display the U.S. flag. No debate.
“Why shouldn’t they?” he asked.
This has nothing to do with blind patriotism. You know the sort. The kind that compels people to not question the actions of a U.S. president just because he’s commander in chief. And on a lighter note, the kind that leads fans of conservative talk radio to call the hosts “great Americans.” Please.
“I’m an ‘in-betweener,’ ” Zwick, 78, told me. “Between World War II and Korea. I am of the generation that always saluted the flag and revered the flag. I don’t see enough flags.”
Where flags fly on campuses has been an issue in some states. This July, state lawmakers in Arizona passed a bill that requires classrooms in public schools, community colleges and universities to display U.S. flags. The state of Florida adopted a similar law two years ago.
When I called to see where Georgia stands on this issue, Dana Tofig, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, directed me to two state codes. One requires public school superintendents to display an American flag — or an appropriate representation of one — in their offices. As for what individual school campuses do or don’t do, well, it’s a local issue.
But Louise Radloff, the school board member, said there is no issue. Campus flags are “a given,” she said.
The absence of Old Glory at Hopkins made Zwick wonder about a deeper issue — the historic and patriotic literacy of Gwinnett kids. If no one cares enough to raise the flag, how much class time is devoted to dissecting and debating what it represents?
“I don’t think the children are being advised or taught what it means,” he said. “It’s not getting the attention it deserves.”
Pagie Ryals, the principal at Hopkins Elementary, declined comment. Sloan Roach, the district spokeswoman, said the school had flown flagless due to a communication breakdown that had since been resolved.
My telephone rang around noon Wednesday. It was Zwick, who’d just cruised by Hopkins Elementary. A U.S. flag had been run up the flagpole.
Zwick said the flag appeared to be shiny and new, nothing like the tattered one he’d seen stashed in the office just last Thursday.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875. Or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Comments
By katie
October 12, 2006 06:24 AM | Link to this
You don’t need to display a flag to be patriotic—in my opinion. You don’t need to salute a flag every time you see one either. To show patriotism, one should be a good person and represent the American ways. I see all these cars on the roads with magnetic flags, some of these cars are weaving in and out of traffic, the driver not using their turn signals, speeding and generally being unsafe. Should these people be sporting this magnetic flag? I think not, not with their behavior. They don’t represent me or what my ideals are of a true American. I call these people as* holes. The flag may be a symbol but of what? The fallen soldiers? The ones that we celebrate on holidays, like Veterans Day? Our independence? What we enjoy and realize we have every day and what we already celebrate on July 4th? Why do we need to hang a flag in order to remember these things. Hanging a flag won’t teach children anything, we have to TEACH them in words what the meaning is behind it. In my opinion the flag is worthless. The behavior a person displays is a lot more American than a piece of cloth.
By madmommy
October 12, 2006 08:43 AM | Link to this
Katie, please explain why that flag that so many have died to protect and defend is worthless. It is a symbol of our country and these school children should be educated to understand the sacrifices that have been made by our forefathers for the right to fly it.
By baby girl
October 12, 2006 10:39 AM | Link to this
The flag is a symbol of respect. Respect - something this generation obviously has not been taught. Respect of the many people who have died to see it still raised. I would have to ask Katie what she holds dear to her heart.
Let’s also add loyalty to the mix. I don’t think they teach that these days either. What are you loyal to Katie?
With so little emphasis on respect and loyalty, I have to wonder if these people would even notice if this country were to fall. God help us all.