Its very short, but it's a 'must' read !

Bob
************

Published on Wednesday, April 3, 2002
by Common Dreams.

"What the American Flag Stands For"
by Charlotte Aldebron

The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It
is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag
flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect.
You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it
to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person
touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night
long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him
from the rain.

School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every
morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human
decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough
food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful
chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white,
and blue cloth.

Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has
become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the
flag's real meaning remains.

Charlotte Aldebron, 12, wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade
English class. She attends Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle, Maine.