Petals and Stripes Forever

Daniel is very, very serious about the American flag, and really takes the time to process any new information relating to it.

The other day, while Daniel and I were driving around in search of "farm-fresh" eggs, he noticed a colonial American flag hanging over someone's driveway. The colonial flag, of course, is the flag that shows a circle of 13 stars against the familiar blue backdrop in the upper-left corner, for the original 13 states, rather than the rows of 50 stars that reflect the updated status quo. Daniel was intrigued by that, and it got him asking questions and trying to make sense of my answers.

I told him that when it all began, there were only 13 states, so they only had 13 stars in a circle; now there are 50 states, and so we have 50 stars, but now they're in rows.

He was musing overall about the colors of the flag:

But red and white are the colors of the flag. Mostly white, and the least would be blue, I think.

I don't know how that relates to the original post-Colonial flag, but I was impressed with his processing: he is quite correct, of course, that the flag is "mostly white" - the stripes are red and white, but the stars are exclusively white, and I never would have thought noticed this nuance.

But he was very, very troubled by the idea of the rows. I didn't understand why he had a problem with it, but he kept discussing it. Then, finally he re-stated his position in a way that made clear to me where he was coming from:

"I don't think there's such a thing as the Rose American Flag."

So when I talked about the modern-day flag having rows instead of a circle of stars, he thought I meant it had a rose, instead of a circle. Of course, it would probably look pretty interesting that way.

But now, we have arrived at a common understanding:

There is no such thing as the Rose-American flag.

Old Glory remains free of sissy associations.

(February 25, 2012)