I am, right or wrong, always looking for hidden meanings in occurrences of simple things I see everyday.

I have an American flag that is mounted to my garage. I can see it from my kitchen window and I often admire its red, white and navy blue colors against the sky blue of my house.

This particular flag has been waving there since 2017. I retired its predecessor by folding it and placing it in the flag box at the local American Legion Post. There it will be part of an annual disposal ceremony where unserviceable flags are respectfully and honorably retired from life.

https://www.legion.org/flag/ceremony

This flag, being an all weather flag, is on display all year and as it is illuminated by the light beside it; it stays up night and day.

As well as being able to view it from my kitchen window, I also see it via my security cameras from work. Some blustery days I get many notifications as my flag waves wildly in the the wind. It will spread out to full display and flip overhead to spread out again.

Yesterday, I received a notification from the camera but when I looked my flag was not there. How could that be? It was in a flag mount, mounted to the wall in a slot that holds the pole at a downward angle. Was it stolen?

I arrived home late last night with high wind and heavy rain still pounding around me and I wasn’t able to look for my flag. This morning before dawn, I go downstairs to make coffee and look out the window to see my flag lying on the ground. Somehow yesterday’s wind unseated it from its mount and threw it to the ground.

I looked at my flag laying there in the dark and that’s when my mind started exploring the symbolism of this scene. Was this sign of current events, was it a sign of defeat or even death of the values and freedoms for which it stands?

More than the particulars of stars, stripes, the red, the white and the blue but the values, freedoms, unity, and justice.

“I pledge (promise) allegiance (loyalty and commitment) to the flag (the symbol) of the United (joined together for a common purpose) States of America , and to the republic (state where sovereignty rests with the people) for which it stands (represents), one nation under God (a country formed under a creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority), indivisible (unable to divide or be separated) with liberty (freedom) and justice (fairness) for all (each and every citizen).”

My hope and prayer is that we have not fallen so far that there is no more loyalty to the republic that the flag represents, that we are not becoming so divided that we can no longer reach common ground, that our flag indeed stands for freedom and fairness for each and every citizen… those born here and those who have chosen to make this great country their home. Brave men and women have fought and died for the ideals and principals this flag represents. It honors them.

As for my flag, I will loving retrieve it, clean it and proudly display it once again. May the nation and principals for which it stands endure forever.