Editorial: Can we cherish both flag and right to protest?
In the debate that rages across the republic these days about the American flag, we find ourselves hearkening back to our dear friend and late columnist, the legendary Jack Mabley, who used to remind readers regularly of the protocol for how it was to be treated.
Jack was a refreshingly open-minded guy, but when it came to the flag, he was a stickler as to the respect it ought to be shown.
We are less preoccupied by the rules, but share his reverence for all the flag represents.
There is, we think, room for civil debate about what is or isn't respectful.
We cherish the flag and the ideals and freedoms it represents. We likewise cherish our right to protest, one of those most-treasured freedoms.
When sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos held up fists during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics, was it an act of disrespect or a statement on behalf of human rights? Or a little bit of both?
When quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before NFL football games, was it an act of disrespect or a protest of violent police behavior in the inner city? Or a little of both?
Like many Americans, we find ourselves grappling with the answers to those questions. Yes, in both examples, we reflexively felt offended. Yet in both examples, wasn't that the intent of the measured protests - to offend us enough that we'd notice the message being delivered?
One thing is clear: There's a significant difference between the dignified protests of Smith, Carlos and Kaepernick and the appalling characterization by Elgin school board member Traci O'Neal Ellis of the flag as "nothing more than toilet paper."
The flag, after all, is not a symbol of the country's flaws and failings. It is a symbol of our ideals and freedoms, of everything we hold sacred, of all that our military men and women have fought and died for.
How many flag-draped coffins have returned to our soil? Those sacrifices are certainly deserving of respect.
It can well be argued that respectful protests are a call to fulfill the promises the flag represents.
Flippant disparagements of the kind Ellis uttered, on the other hand, are solely desecrations.
Mabley, by the way, used to point out that etiquette also prohibited the defiling of flag images on napkins and shirts and the back ends of bikinis. We assume the same would apply to flags that appear on "Make America Great Again" baseball caps and other political paraphernalia.
As we said earlier, we're not the sticklers that Jack was. We believe reverence for the flag is less about the code and more a matter of what's in your heart and how you show it.
But if you're going to follow the rules, well, all the rules are rules.