A Flag By Any Other Name...

Nothing new on the adoption front… but the ole’ blog is looking a little bare, plus I’m feeling a little wordy. So, I would like to share my opinions with you on a video my husband has shown me (I think he knew it would make me all irritated), in which all the comments on the forum where he found it were overwhelming positive, proclaiming this man a hero.
Please watch, then I will rant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONjlZ8YMkA

Before I even begin, let me start out by saying I love living in the United States; there is nowhere else I would chose to live. I feel extremely fortunate that I was born here, and that my great-grandparents were the ones that had to make the difficult journey of immigrating here, not I.

Here is my issue with the video - this man acted in obvious anger, shown by the look on his face and the tension he exuded. I agree with him in one aspect, the American flag needs to be flown higher than others, merely because that is the law. True, I feel the law a bit silly and feudalistic, but whatever. It is the law. The two ‘shopkeepers’ standing by and watching, they did not look to be aggressive fellows. In fact, they seemed a bit befuddled by the whole situation. Instead of this man angrily marching to the storefront brandishing a weapon (with videographer in tow, none the less!) and practicing his own form of vigilante ‘justice’ by also breaking the law (vandalism and robbery) – why not go to that shop and say ‘Hey. There is a law here that the American flag must be flown higher than all others.” But oh, no no! That is not the American way! We must do things with vengeance and fanaticism, and hide it behind an allegiance to our country!

Intolerance masked by patriotism is still intolerance.

There is no reason the shopkeepers cannot love living in the U.S., work hard to prosper at their store, building a better life and still be proud of their Mexican heritage. We who are more removed from our immigrating ancestors, such as I, do not really feel a connection to my source countries… I think I am mostly German? But, my guess is my great-grandparents, as with any first generation immigrant, felt very differently. I wonder, if it had been a flag of a Scandinavian country flying above the Stars & Stripes, would the reaction had been the same? Would he still have acted so boldly and unlawfully, with hate in his voice, or merely explained to the shopkeepers why it shouldn’t be flown that way?
Being an American is not a right you can only be born with, it is a right extended to all who all who lawfully come to be.

Thanks for letting me rant. Please feel free to tell my why you think I am wrong or right.