It doesn’t seem like we celebrate Flag Day much anymore. I look out on my street, and there aren’t many flags flying. I look around town and notice the same. We shouldn’t need a day to honor our great nation and the flag that unites us, but we do… and even on this day we fall short. Its not about a piece of cloth, its about the blood shed so it may fly high. Its about what it stands for — the greatest nation on this earth striving hard so that men may forever remain free.
So today, along with the pledge of allegiance, I make another pledge. That every year on this day I will proudly display the American flag and treat it with all the respect it deserves, because everything it represents and those who fought for my freedom deserve that respect. And my children and their friends will never forget that June 14th is Flag Day, because it will be up to them to keep our nation free.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
The American Flag represents freedom and has been an enduring symbol of our Nation’s ideals since the earliest days of our Nation. Wherever it flies, we are reminded of America’s unity and in the great cause of liberty and justice for all.
Two hundred and thirty years ago, the Second Continental Congress officially made the Stars and Stripes the symbol of America. The Founders declared that the 13 stars gracing the original flag represented “a new constellation” ,just as America embodied new hope and new light for mankind. Today, our flag continues to convey the bold spirit of a proud and determined Nation.
Americans have long flown our flag as a sign of patriotism and gratitude for the blessings of liberty. We also pledge allegiance to the flag as an expression of loyalty to our country and to the belief in the American creed of freedom and justice. By displaying and showing respect for the flag, we honor the ideals upon which our democracy rests and show appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy today. Flying the flag can also be an expression of thanks for the men and women who have served and sacrificed in defense of our freedoms—from the early patriots of the Continental Army to the courageous Americans in uniform who are defending those freedoms around the world today.
-President George W. Bush, Presidential Proclamation June 5, 2007
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