W ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi MMMMMMMMMMM ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi 1€on 8/e o)ta,r,e tfip g/ry {oo ,,,tlun/o,q by SIDNEY L. DeLOVE Is it possible to wave the flag too much? Provided, of course, that you wave it rvith integrity? Is is possible to study Lincoln or Shakespeare too much? Is it possible to read the Bible too much? * The great, the good, the true, are in- exhaustible for inspiration, example and strength. I believe that we are not waving our flag enough, not nearly enough * It seems to me that we are de- veloping a tendency to be timid or even apologetic about waving the stars and stripes. Walk up and down the streets on July 4th and count the flags. It is our nation's birthday, a sacred day in world history, the most important day of America. Why isn't the flag flying on every rooftop and from every home and building? This complacent attitude is strong evidence of eancerous patri- otic decay. The flag is a symbol of our national unity. It is the spirit of our undying devotion to our country. It stands for the best that is in us . for loyalty, character, and faith in democracy * Isn't our flag a synonym of the United States of America? Does it not represent man's greatest, noblest, most sublime dream? Is it not the zenith of achievement, the goal to which gen- erations have aspired? * Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it is time for us . . . for the mad, rushing Twentieth Century American . . . to stop for a moment and think. Let us arrest our near reverential admiration of material success and return to the spiritual and ethical values. Let us imbue and rekindle in ourselves and our children the so-called old-fashioned way of patriotism, a burning devotion to the principles and ideals upon which our country was founded * Should not every home own and proudly display the colors on holidays and other such occasions? Isn't the flag Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Nathan HaIe, Gettysburg and Valley Forge, Paul Revere, Jackson and other great men and women who have given us our heritage. When you look at the flag can't you see the Alamo, Corrigedor, Pearl Harbor, The Monitor and The Merrimac? Lest we forget, isn't the flag Flanders Field, Bataan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Babe Ruth and Davy Crockett? The great events of our past and present are wrapped up in our flag * It is a symbol of this blessed nation, a giant in industry, education and commerce. Millions of fertile square miles, wheatlands, coal mines, steel plants. Our great republic, the chosen infant destined to be man's last remaining hope for suffering humanity, a shining beacon of light, noble and glorious, the haven for the oppressed and perseeuted and truly God's gift to mankind * That is what the flag means to me. Can we wave it too much? I don't think so. Reply of S. L. Delove on the Know Your History Hour, December 30th, 1956, to a listener who wrote as follows: "Your programs are wonderful - but you are waving the flag too much." The above is reprinted and narrated annually in hundreds of national magazines, news- papers and radio stations, and is a part of the Cbngressional Record. Dr. Delove is the author of The Quiet Betrayal and president of Independence Hall of Chicago. WWWWWWWWWWWN