Flag touches, inspires, speaks to Americans

Flag Day is June 14, and as we take time to behold the beauty of this red, white and blue symbol of our nation, I am reminded of how the warmth of that torch can touch each of us as individuals, as family and as a nation.

It touches us and calls out to us. Franklin K. Lane, then secretary of the interior, delivered a Flag Day address in 1914 in which he repeated the words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."

And sometimes we are so awed and inspired by the message that our flag silently sends to us that we find ourselves responding to this living symbol of all that we stand for.

To ensure that all Americans know how to respect the flag, the first flag code was drafted by resolution at an American Legion conference in Washington, D.C., and adopted by Congress in 1942.
Leo Surak
South River