Red, White, and Blue
Lessons from the American flag
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed a resolution approving the original design for the American flag:
Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.
Since that time, we have added more stars as the country has grown, but the overall design has not changed. Today, we are very familiar with that flag:
The canton of the flag is referred to as the union and includes stars for each state. The rest of the flag contains thirteen equal stripes, representative of the thirteen original colonies.
The flag is red, white, and blue. These colors were chosen to represent valued ideals for this new nation.
Red: valor and bravery
White: purity and innocence
Blue: vigilance, perseverance, and justice
The flag wouldn’t look right without any of these colors. Can you imagine if you took all the white out of the flag? If you can’t, this is what it would look like:
It doesn’t look right, does it? The American flag without the white stars and white stripes is unrecognizable.
The same is true for the ideals those colors represent. America without a pursuit of purity and innocence is unrecognizable. Far too often, I feel like this is the America I wake up in these days. It is a nation where avarice, self-interest, gluttony, and hedonism has replaced the pursuit of virtue.
On this Independence Day, we celebrate our founding fathers for declaring independence from Great Britain. We celebrate them for their valor and bravery. We celebrate them for their vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
Lost in the shuffle of it all is a recognition of just how important they viewed purity and innocence. These days, just saying those words feels like a nod toward naivety. Of course, the founding fathers were not perfect and were not innocent. We all know well the stain of slavery and racism which marred the nation from those early days. They were also not unfamiliar with scandals and debauchery.
Nevertheless, the founding fathers recognized that the pursuit of virtue was an essential objective not just for themselves but for their nation. Listen to the words of John Adams:
Public virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private Virtue, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.
… or these from George Washington:
Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.
… or these from Samuel Adams:
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
… or these from Thomas Jefferson:
No government can continue good but under the people's control; and … their minds are to be informed by education what is right and wrong; to be encouraged in virtuous habits and deterred from vice.
… or these from James Madison:
To suppose any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.
As you celebrate this 4th of July, remember this. Remember that this is what our founding fathers established: a nation which strived for virtue. That is the nation that men and women of our armed services have laid down their lives to protect.
Can we maintain it? Do we still fight for that idea? Or, are we willing to settle for a nation the protects our interests? I hope not.
Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it. - John Adams