It's About That Missing Flag Pin

With all this noise about flag pins, their use or absence thereof, I thought back to somewhere between 1970 and 1973 when I lived near New Bedford, Mass. For some reason, it was a time when flag decals and flag bumper stickers were all the rage. It might have been because the younger set was making noise, defying authority and (horrors!) doing some thinking on its own.

Anyway, after some patriot wrote a letter to the local newspaper about all this, I chimed in with thoughts of my own, including the fact that someone with a flag decal had just passed me on the right. The general idea was that if you are going to be patriotic, then you have to keep the laws your flag waves over.

I know how to read the VIN plates on vehicles, to determine where they were built. It’s always fun to see someone’s car or pickup with a “Buy America,” or even worse statement, when you can tell they bought it made far from our shores, or across the border. I’d love to meet an owner and point that out. It’s a hollow sentiment.

Oddly enough, after the 2001 attack, tv news anchors were criticized for wearing flag pins, as this somehow undercut their objectivity. All I could think of at the time was some village idiot must think they should give equal time to the extremists.

If you want to see my patriotism, watch how I act. Because you won’t see a pin in my lapel. Anyone can buy jewelry, but it’s hard to put it into practice.