Today for cub scouts we practiced how to do an outdoor flag ceremony. First we had to make a flag pole - out of an 8' branch we cut from the maple tree last summer. Mark put a screw eye at the top, and I ran a long loop of twine through the eye. Then I put the pole up using 4 tent stakes w/ 4 twine guy wires. I use a taut-line hitch to keep the guy wires snug.
Next I have to teach the boys how to carry the folded flag tucked under their arm, how to attach it to the twine loop hanging from the pole, and how to raise it by pulling on the twine loop. Then we practice taking it down and folding it up by triangles so they can tuck it under their arm again. We do the whole thing a couple of times through before we do it for real and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Speaking of the Pledge of Allegiance, we say it once a week at the high school, during morning announcements. On Monday I was in my classroom alone during announcements, when the prompt came for everyone to stand and say the Pledge. I felt a little self-conscious standing to say the pledge by myself (would someone look through the window and see me?) but I stood and said the Pledge. It was more personal and meaningful to say it by myself like that. When I say it with a group of cub scouts, or a classroom full of students, I always have the sense that I am setting the example for them. But this time, with no one watching, I was doing it just for me.
Thank you, Dad, and Maury, and Michael for your service to the United States of America. Thank you for what the flag and citizenship mean to me. Thank you for being who you are. I love you.
(This is an old photo of me helping the boys with an outdoor flag ceremony over a year ago. We didn't have a pole that day, so we used a twine loop hanging from the upstairs window of the garage. I prefer the pole, but this worked. )
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