Flags

What's in a flag? Flags are strips of cloth strung up on a pole. They signify something significant, more to some than others. Flags are like visible yells. They tell who we are and what we want everyone to know about that. In a way, it's a strange and rather primitive form of symbolic advertising. We Canadians are not as much into flags, perhaps, as others, but lately, they've become controversial. Some groups insist that their struggle needs to have that kind of attention, and a lot of it. And while they are passionate about the display of their symbolism such as countries involved in serious conflict or statements about a concept flags are still pieces of cloth. But they are more. We pay attention to flags because we are all interested in others and their ideas and beliefs, their patriotism and passions. Flags are hard to ignore. Some flags have more status than others and fly only in certain designated spaces or heights. In a legal sense, flags are granted by governments, large and small, as those that must and must not be flown. Flag raising is a responsibility. Some flags have to be positioned higher or more forward than others which you may have found as a boater crossing the border from one country's waters into another. We see flags on bumpers of cars that signify where the owner comes from or whom they support. Other flags might be sports ones flown with pride in their teams. The flag of a country, however, is to rise above all others. Then again there are flags of those rising out of a social struggle and their flags are part of their claim for recognition as part of the larger society. Whether a bit of cloth matters all that much is moot because of the varied opinions "out there". Flags become legal issues and cause for decisions. And it's understandable because of the importance we see in them. We send a message on a written sign and flags do the same job visually. Some communities must  make sensitive decisions about flags: where they can be placed and which ones may be put with others and by whom. These days, society appears to group rather than ungroup in order to form as an equal part of the larger one. It's not as complicated as it sounds but getting there is the hard part. Flags, some feel, are a matter of showing progress in their achievement in a particular movement. Some flags are shunned and feared like the old pirates' "skull and crossbones" flags, raised to warn their victims and inspire their own folk to do what pirates did. Long ago during hand to hand wars or yore, a flag drove hoards of foot and mounted soldiers onward to battle. Planting a flag somewhere such as a mountain top or  a conquered land or on the moon has deep meaning. Some flags are there to inspire. Others to incite. Still others of great age are raised with respect to an ideal and for historical purposes. While only a rather small piece of cloth hanging from a pole, a flag can have an impact that is stronger than words on paper or signs or shouts or painted graffiti or bonfires on a hill. Flags fly. They speak.