Stars and Stripes

The original American Flag was hand crafted more than two centuries ago. Changes to the original were inclusive, representing more states, more citizens added to the United States. The final finished art form, fifty stars and thirteen stripes is sometimes still sewn by hand. Reproductions are made, not limited editions, but by the thousands, the millions, in miniature, oversized, pasted on paper, cloth, plastic and flown over buildings, fields and homes. 

We have other iconic symbols representative of America, the Statue of Liberty, National monuments. But the flag is portable, the one we plant, we wear on uniforms,  t-shirts and sweatshirts. The art form we stake in the ruins of the World Trade Center, on battlefields, on the moon.

It is hard to understand, particularly today I guess, why we ponder over the symbolism behind another flag, when the original piece of cloth still means so much.