Importance of honoring flag lost on many

Lately there is much disrespect being shown to the flag and anger toward those who protest against honoring it by kneeling or remaining seated when they should be standing for it and the national anthem.

There are various reasons given but is it a new thing? What are the roots of this non-respect of the Stars and Stripes and the Star Spangled Banner.

I was born while Herbert Hoover was still president so I grew up during the Great Depression never knowing my father because he died when I was three years old from his experiences fighting in France during WWI. I cherish the flag that draped his coffin. I lived through World War II and lost two friends during that conflict and I'm a Korean veteran. Patriotism was a part of our daily life.

When I was a boy going to school we saluted and pledged our allegiance to the flag every morning before classes began. We started our day with patriotic recognition of our national banner … and then the pledge was removed from the schools.

We were also taught that if the flag so much as touched the ground it was to be ceremoniously destroyed and then the Flag Code was amended to allow it to be flown at all times and in all kinds of weather … with certain considerations.

Now we have an entire generation whose day did not begin patriotically by honoring the flag and pledging allegiance to it. We also have taken away the importance of the flag by allowing it to be flown in many cases until it is a dirty tattered rag. Is it any wonder the importance of honoring the flag has been lost to so many people and is instead being misused as a vehicle for protest? Sincerity of purpose does not necessarily make it a correct response to perceived injustice.

Edward C. Cook

Batavia