An incident at Superbowl

Something I saw on TV the other day caused me to have a flashback to an incident at the recent Superbowl.

WPN made lots of new friends. There were many Canadians camped nearby. One of them, Jim from Ontario, came by every day to sit and chat a while. He wasn't much into watching volleyball. Jim was an older gentleman, a quiet fellow. When he spoke he seemed to choose his words carefully.

Biker Bill had noticed something down over the steep bank in the woods behind us. It was something red, white, and blue. Some thought it was an umbrella. Some thought it may be a flag. A few Whitethorn members stopped by our encampment Saturday afternoon and were shown the object buried in the brush. They had no idea what it was or where it came from. After they left one of us would occasionally wonder out loud what it could be. A decoration that had been blown from someone's camp site? It was very hard to see. By late afternoon Harold's curiosity got the best of him. He slipped on a pair of jeans and began his trek down the near vertical bank, choked with green briar and berry cane (hence the jeans. A thorn patch is not the best place for a nudist). After a lot of hard work, Harold emerged clutching a tattered American flag.

Biker Bill hung the flag on his van mirror for a while as we discussed proper disposal. Then he and another folded the flag as we tried to remember what all thirteen folds represented. Later that night Bill handed it over to Big John, who would see that it would be burnt, the proper way to dispose of an American flag.

Our friend Jim sat watching this all unfold without a word. Then he said something that sticks in my mind. He said "That's the difference between you Americans and us. You got guts". He said he'd be surprised to see anyone one from any other country, including his own, go to such an effort to rescue and properly dispose of their nation's flag.

I think maybe Jim was right. I mean, here we were, not soldiers, not heroes, not someone looking to make an impression. Just some ordinary folks, nudist friends, enjoying a beautiful afternoon when suddenly it became important to dispose of our country's symbol with the honor it deserves. This is what makes us different from the rest of the world. We live in a country where we can enjoy our freedom. Freedom as simple as that Saturday afternoon at Whitethorn. We should never take it for granted. You never know who will notice. Jim did.

Click here to learn the proper way of folding the American flag and what the thirteen folds symbolize.