Dear Friends:
The above picture may not look familiar. It might lack luster and artistic appeal. It might be void of balance and it might lack proper framing. It might look ordinary…or perhaps even boring. To the untrained eye, all may be true.
To a Sailor, however, it’s one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
The picture is an Ensign flying atop USS KEARSARGE, a United States ship underway in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the most powerful symbol in the world to those of us who serve in uniform; we feel so strongly because it’s the symbol of the very freedom we serve to protect. It flies unaffected by the senseless acts levied against our homeland. It flies unaffected by hatred. It flies free despite efforts to make Americans hide in fear.
The graphic pictures published in newspapers of firemen struggling to raise the Ensign atop piles of rubble in Manhattan are moving. Pictures of people saluting the Ensign all across our county are inspiring. But this picture of an Ensign flying high above my ship makes me personally proud to be a Sailor…and perhaps more significantly, an American.
The people who most often see this flag, from this position, are not Americans. The people who see this flag are the people we wish to influence by our presence in foreign waters. For most, it’s a symbol of strength and prosperity. For others, it’s a symbol they envy because Americans live in a democracy where choice is a way of life.
Unfortunately, some of those people who have seen this flag have failed to recognize all that this symbol means…and will soon pay a price. As they pay that price, I hope this flag haunts them as they sleep. This is the flag that will fly as we arm our missiles on flight decks. This is the flag that, high above their heads, reminds Sailors of the nation we protect. This is the flag that, flying from our homes, reminds our families of our duty in far away seas. This is also the flag that our children will wave on the pier as we take them in our arms and hug them upon completion of our task. God Bless America!
