A flag is a curious thing.
It is a thin, flat piece of cloth. It is distinguished only by its colors and perhaps a bit of embroidery, but at its heart, it is only threads woven back and forth, cut and stitched together with more thread.
Yet it means so much more.
A flag is identity. It is purpose. It is cause. It is a defiant refusal to back down. It is a call to arms. It is a plea for peace.
On June 14, 1777, the American flag was conceived when the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, designated a committee to create a design. Independence had been declared 11 months earlier. The Articles of Confederation that would be the country’s first ruling charter were still five months away from being adopted. But the nascent nation was already fighting for its life, and it needed a banner to rally around.
It did so with seven red stripes and six white ones, a large field of blue and a smattering of stars. The stories we tell name a widowed Pennsylvania upholsterer and seamstress as the first maker, but most historians consider that apocryphal. It might not matter.
Betsy Ross is a part of the mythology of our birth, the same way Rome’s founding is ascribed to the twin sons of the god of war, abandoned and raised by wolves or Greek mythology tells us of Pandora opening a box.
On Flag Day, we celebrate the history and symbolism of that scrap of cloth that has flown over seats of power and been carried into battle. We honor it as the shroud that has draped heroes.
The red, white and blue colors aren’t unique to America. Dozens of countries have layered those hues to create their national standard, from the United Kingdom to France to Norway to Thailand. But the particular structure of the Stars and Stripes is as unique as the flag’s history.
Just as Pennsylvania is the flag’s birthplace, it is also the only state where Flag Day is a holiday.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there have been observations of the flag’s birthday since 1861. Some have been centered on cities. Some have been in states. It was not until 1949, in the haze of post-war patriotism, that President Harry Truman signed into law a national observation.
Only in Pennsylvania is Flag Day more than that. It is classified as a state holiday on the same footing as Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Presidents’ Day or Columbus Day.
But like the flag itself, we must decide what Flag Day means to us individually. Is it a day when we honor the nation it represents? Do we celebrate its history? Do we pay heed to the ideals it is meant to symbolize: bravery, freedom, liberty?
The American flag is a mosaic of all of that. Whatever it means to you, try to live up to it today.
