I've just refurbished my computer... again. I also had to reinstall everything. Putting the thing together, and installing basic software like the OS and a few other things such as antivirus and office programs, takes about two hours. This one took a little longer. I decided to go with the latest stuff, and because of this there were a lot of new things I had to discover. I'm still working on it, but that is the reason I found myself this morning looking for a new image for the desktop. I was running through some of the stuff I have, and came across a metallic looking background with an image of the United States superimposed on it. Instead of the states however, in their place was the US Flag.

It is a flag waving in the breeze, cut out as if a cookie cutter in the shape of the US had been swiped through it and frozen in the same instant.

Who the fuck cares?! It's important because I resent the image. The thought that anyone could resent the symbol of our country should be appalling to most. I'm sure people would label me a communist quite easily after learning such things. I thought about it, because at first I didn't even think twice about it, just scrolled by it rejecting it just as fast as I did the others. The rejection was different than the others however, most were rejected because they did not strike a positive chord with me and that was all. This one I swept by with distaste, and after going through a few more slides came back to it because I felt it was significant.

I don't disrespect the Flag. I still stand at attention when the our Anthem is played, or in the presence of the Flag going up a flagpole, while others stand at ease with a hand over their heart as they were taught. I even stand at attention when I hear the Marine's hymn, and it affects me just as it always has as long as I can remember, even before I signed up with the Marines.

The point is I still respect and admire all the Flag represents. So I started wondering why seeing this image has such a negative impact on me. The answer was obvious after thinking about it, I despise the way some people hide behind our Flag. There are people in this country that bring up the Flag in debate, acting as if it bestows upon them a self-righteous armor that nobody could or should dare to penetrate. They believe it bestows on them the right to be correct no matter what they say beyond bringing the Flag into any spoken or unspoken intercourse.

To me the symbol of our Flag has come to mean something totally different than just a representation of what living in this country means. Too many people use it as a rhetorical argument that they dare others to refute. It happens so much now that I judge anyone behind it inappropriately because of this, so much so that now I just unconsciously assign negative connotations to it as the symbol flits through my mind.

I resent the people that have forced me to change my perception of the symbol......