Did you know, that when you are at a parade
or some event in which a color guard walks past you, you are supposed to
stand as our flag passes? I hope you do know, and if you don't, now you
do and please teach it to your children.
My grandpa served in the Korean War.
That's him. Second from the left. Isn't he handsome. :) He never said much about it and honestly I was pretty old before I knew he was a military man. I do know that my grandma waited at home for him in a tiny un-airconditioned apartment with a baby and one on the way.
This past weekend we went to a city celebration. They had the usual, a parade, carnival, car show and all the nasty carnival food you can eat. I took my kids to the parade first thing in the morning. I prepared them as we waited. "OK, when you see the guys coming carrying the flags, you do what?" "Stand until they pass." :) Yep. And they did. What was disappointing was, there was only a handful of us standing. One being a very old man, in a wheel chair, who could barely lift himself up, but he sure did stand, took off his hat, and remained standing until the flag past. It made me tear up. All these able bodies just sitting there and it took everything he had, but he did it. Maybe they don't know they are supposed to? Maybe they do know, but they don't care. I'm not sure which is worse. Regardless of how you feel about our government, that man carrying that flag was a veteran. He went to war. He was in an unfamiliar place, missing his family, missing his friends, missing all the little things we do everyday that we take for granted. Please, stand up and show respect for him and all of the other men and women who fight so that we can watch a parade on a Saturday morning with our kids.
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