What comes to your mind, when you think of our flag? Is it the country itself? I visualize the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia; an alligator sliding through the everglades in Florida; the sunrise on a South Carolina beach; the faces of great men carved in rock at Stone Mountain, Georgia. I see a lazy noontide in the pines of North Carolina; the spacious rolling bluegrass hills and horse farms of Kentucky; the crystal-clear lakes of western Tennessee; the wonder of the 630-feet-high Gateway Arch at St. Louis, Missouri. I imagine a sea of wheat rippling in a breeze in Kansas; the mighty, mile-wide Mississippi River flowing through the heartland of the nation, and the magnificent structures of our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
Could the love of our flag possibly begin with men and women at work? I visualize men and women performing their jobs every day or night in offices, schools, and factories; farmers on their tractors toiling in the soil to produce the harvest or tending their livestock to produce the food we enjoy. I see those who work the trucks, trains, planes, and boats to deliver products to consumers. I imagine the men and women of our Armed Forces who are responsible for keeping our nation well protected; the housewives who make our houses into homes and look after the future of this country, our children; the doctor caring for the body, the teacher caring for the mind, and the minister caring for the soul.

Could the love of our flag be in things remembered of our personal past? The things we all remember are small areas of land with unique houses and special people; a tree on a hill with grass all around and a green valley below; a beach, a farm, or a house where we once lived. These places might not have meant much to others, but to us and our loved ones, they were places of magic simply because of the joys and pains of life experienced there. We remember voices and conversations that brought ease to our hearts and tranquility to our lives. Each remembered moment of the past is a lasting part of what we are all about today.

Could the love of our flag be in stories of our heritage? I visualize the Pilgrims struggling through their first dreadful winter in a new and strange land; the Minutemen standing strong for freedom at Concord Bridge; an army in rags, many sick, many freezing, many starving, but staying at Valley Forge. I see men, women, and children moving westward over the Cumberland Gap, floating down a swift and rocky river, or rolling through the Great Plains. I imagine a settler hacking a new life from the great forest and fertile lands, Thoreau at Walden Pond, or Lincoln at Cooper Union, or Lee riding home from Appomattox. I visualize corruption and disgrace, answered always by men and women who would not let our flag lie in the dust. They stood up in every generation to fight for ideals and for the old rights we too often take for granted today.

Our flag represents a great multitude of ordinary people, charged with the usual human feelings, yet filled with such hope as ever caught the imaginations and the hearts of any other nation on earth. Our flag stands for liberty, for justice, and for a place where we can stand straight without fear or rancor.

Our land is 50 states, united for a common cause. Our people are of every race, united to make a better place for all. Our American flag is our symbol that somehow brings a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye when we fully realize our way of life. If you cannot feel it or see it, then you need to sit down and begin to put your vision together of what your flag means to you.

Lonnie L. Godfrey is a Past Master of Edward N. Eubank Lodge No. 262, a 33° member and Past Venerable Master of the Lynchburg, Virginia, Scottish Rite, Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 25th Masonic District for 1997, Past President of the Lynchburg Shrine Club, member of the York Rite, and Past Associate Bethel Guardian of Bethel 36 International Order of Jobs Daughters. Brother Lonnie is presently serving as the District Education Officer for the 25th Masonic District, is serving on the Grand Lodge of Virginia Committee of Masonic Relief, is Treasurer, Membership Chairman, and a Trustee of the Valley of Lynchburg, and the President of the Kazim Shrine Oriental Band.