…to the trauma caused by the symbol of America’s freedom.
Is it just me or do other people have a little situational PTSD after the abuse our nation’s flag has endured in the last year? Usually, when I see the flag, I feel a swell of pride or nostalgia.
Nostalgia from the years of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag at the start of each school day. Or – also quite timely – from watching opening or closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
Pride from knowing our country’s history and what we’ve grown into in such a relatively short time as a nation.
But after last year…a twinge of shame and a flash of trauma have replaced those more positive associations.
Not that the shame isn’t somewhat warranted as I’ve witnessed the racial equity protests in my hometown over the past 16 months. Or watched as the GOP politicizes teaching truthful history that would reduce the cancer of white nationalism in America from growing as rampantly in future generations.
Knowledge is power.
Whiteness is not.
But the PTSD…after being caught in so many Trump Truck Parades last year, it’s haunting. People still fly various incarnations of the American flag, the Back the Blue flag or the Trump 2020 flag on their trucks as they drive through town. It’s more prevalent in the suburbs than the city proper, but I still see them on the highways close in and feel a sense of insecurity when they pass by. Also in the subs, you’ll find people flying American flags from their homes or fences in dubious proximity to their neighbor’s Black Lives Matter yard signs.
I truly and fearfully believe that it’s the leading ripples of the divisive wave that our Uncivil War will surf in on…
Our diseased national mental health crisis.
Not even the tiny flags that fire trucks – and I saw an inordinate amount of fire trucks while driving this weekend – gave me a swell of pride. I felt a little hope, but nothing that stuck around longer than it took for the fire trucks to pass by.
Honestly, the greatest hope – and I’m loathe to call it hope – I have for our country is for Darwin to throw an epic and devastating win on the board with vaccine deniers over the coming months. And I feel repulsed by the notion that a massive, locally concentrated death toll is what my “hope” is for these Stupid Americans snapping out of the gaslit hold the Svengali-like GOP and church have on their minds.
Help me, Common Sense…you’re my only hope.
atleastihaveafrigginglass 
I hope things will get better sooner rather than later.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Alas…
LikeLiked by 1 person
It ain’t the GOP or the church. It’s stupidity swirling like all the shit in a dusty, dirty Manhattan street on Sunday morning, promulgated by social media and the internet. Like right here where we do what we do. There is nothing dubious in a flag next to a black lives matter sign. Other than the divisiveness both have played out on each other. Rather than a better America we have managed a separatist America. Some of it is syntax, some of it is semantics, most of it is selfish behaviors. The ither side of the history coin is America was not originally founded on white supremacy, nor was manifest destiny a white supremacy program. The people invading happened to be white. Not unlike the ruddy Huns who burned Alexandria. History is the product of the winners, regardless of the race. Who is winning the brown against brown extermination going on in Central America or the arab on arab extermination in the middle east? Is that racist? Where are they all fleeing. White europe and beyond. If it suck so much to be white why are there blonde blacks? Why is WalMart the epicenter of new new new Delhi? Is that racist? Is it really racist to require an ID to vote? No, but it’s racist to assume that only white people are smart enough to get one and no one else is. Is it racist to have a minority contingent that belongs to 13% of the population hold major cities hostage? Is it racist to assume the virus is selective of anyone other than those too stupid to protect themselves for whatever reason? Look, the airwaves are full of every niche of the population saying “save yourself.” And yet it fails. Because no one trusts anyone, everyone and their motivation is suspect, as written in your blog. It shouldn’t be criminal to be an American, or any color, our population diiminished to a set of pronouns and hyphenated “Americans.” Americans formulated the vaccine. Not white or black or brown or pick your pronoun. Americans. What is so wrong that Americans can’t behave like citizens? Selfishness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know that selfishness is one of my favorite drums to beat. I do, though, think it can be a byproduct of a certain degree of stupidity. Not *my* particular degree, mind you. I may try to accidentally walk through a door without opening it, but I can still see where 13% (a mere 6% here in PDX) of the population is getting rogered real good by another 40% of the population that thinks of themselves as grand old Christian folk. But I do see what you’re saying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately, my fellow blogging buddy, I don’t think “common sense” is too prevalent these days. I think it was all erased under the previous presidency! Hope for improvement! 🙂 Naked hugs!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. Completely.
I think of what thoughtful folk like us possess these days as “uncommon sense”. I’m not sure we can teach what the GOP is calling Critical Race Theory until we can actually be confident we’re even teaching critical thinking.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person