Remembrance and respect

 
A few days ago, I noted someone on my flist (I’m not on hers) wondering if it would be in bad taste to hang black bunting out her window on the 4th of July. I don’t know about taste, but I definitely found myself not liking the idea.

In a way, I can understand how she feels. I spent eight years in a state of ceaseless disgust at the unending offenses of the Clinton administration; for the first time in my life, the loathsome (and publicly displayed) character of the man overcame my respect for the office. I would not acknowledge Bill Clinton as my president; for the entirety of his stay in office, I wouldn’t even use the word ‘president’ in the same sentence that contained his name.

And yet, and yet …

For all the rage she and many others have expressed against George W. Bush, she made it clear in that post that her negative feelings were about America per se. I fear for this nation — ironically but not surprisingly, for reasons precisely opposite the ones she cites for her own negatives — but at my greatest heights of outrage and lowest depths of disappointment, I never felt any temptation to denigrate or reject my country itself. In fact, it seems to me that in times when the news isn’t good, it’s up to all of us to make good news, to contribute something positive to compensate for the unwelcome currents we see moving around us.

With this in mind, I joined other members of my unit, and we drove three Humvees to a nearby town to take part in their 4th of July parade, carrying veterans and Boy Scouts and members of our families and just kids waving flags. A National Guard unit did the same, so that the Army was doubly represented. I heard no criticisms, doubts, even reservations. Of course, such a crowd is self-selecting, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t already inclined toward traditional patriotism. But there are a lot of us.

Even if it wasn’t anything hugely significant, I and those around me offered such positives as we could.

And I didn’t see any black bunting anywhere.