The American Flag

But what does it all mean...

The Star Spangled Banner, a nickname for the flag of the United States of America. It consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes, alternating red and white, a blue rectangle in the canton (commonly meaning the upper left quarter), with fifty small five pointed white stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows of five stars. 

I've spent almost 4 months in America so far and one of the many things that's struck me is how many flags there are flying everyday in the United States. The most popular flag maker in America makes over 100 million U.S flags every year, this is a huge number but it only accounts for the domestic production of large flags. Numbers for imported flags and hand held flags are not available but are again thought to run into the hundreds of millions. 


The amount of money spent annually on importing American flags to the United states is steady year on year at around 5 million dollars. The only exception to this is 2001 when that figure jumped to over 50 million dollars in the aftermath of 9/11, and this statistic gives me an insight into the power of the flag.

As I'm a particularly sad individual I thought I would count the number of flags I saw per day just going about my business. I reckon that just driving into town for a coffee you're likely to come across around 7-10 large American flags. In cities larger than Omaha this number increases exponentially, for instance, when I visited New York at the end of December, there were so many flags flying there that I lost count, but it was easily into the hundreds. 

Now, pretend for a moment that you're as sad as me, you're driving to your local Tesco (other supermarket chains are available) because you're all out of mild curry flavour Super Noodles. Excluding people who live on military camps, how many Union Jacks would you see on your journey?

Maybe one at the most?

This brings me onto the subject of this weeks blog, "but what does it all mean"?

Well, to me it means that the Americans are a ferociously patriotic people and they're not afraid to show it. I for one admire the Americans for flying their National flag at every opportunity. The Star Spangled Banner brings people together, you only have to look at the rise in sales of flags post 9/11.

It gives the nation a focal point that every single citizen, no matter what their background is, can get behind. Seeing the flag flying in the breeze also reminds you of all the great feats achieved in the name of the United States over the last few centuries, and it's these feats which make this country one of the most powerful in the world. 

In the U.S the Stars and Stripes are flown everywhere, and I mean everywhere. From outside peoples houses, to D.I.Y stores, fast food restaurants, police stations, train stations, public buildings, department stores, etc... It's as if everybody wants to part of something special. 

In the UK, when you think about landscaping your garden, the last thing on your mind is putting up a 30ft flag pole so you can fly your Union Jack with pride. But why not?

Are we embarrassed of our national identity?

Are we so afraid of offending minorities in our own country that we are willing to forego any thoughts, or more importantly gestures of patriotism?

Or, have we lost our National pride, do we not feel like we have anything to be proud about anymore?

A friend of mine said the other day, "I don't think of it as Great Britain, to me it's just Britain", and I think we can tell a lot from that statement. 

I was talking to another friend of mine the other day (yes I have more than one), he emigrated to Canada several years ago and had just returned from a three week business trip to the U.K. I asked him about what it was like spending three weeks back home and he didn't paint a rosy picture. Although it's always a pleasure to spend time with family and old friends he wasn't in a hurry to move back anytime soon. 

He said he was actually on a recruitment drive for his Canadian company, from what he saw back home there were no opportunities, no future and few prospects for success especially for young people. He went on to say, "everything is old and tired, there's no development, no investment in infrastructure, life seems harder and full of stress".

Several couples I know have emigrated to sunnier climbs, mainly to Australia and if you're lucky enough to have travelled a little it's not hard to see why. Life abroad is usually more relaxed, there's investment, taxes are lower, the quality of life is high and more importantly to me, the family unit is very much intact. Back home you have to work so hard to keep a roof over your head and it's easy to lose sight of what's really important. 

"Living to work, working to live".

Which one do you feel you're doing?

Gee Wiz information as the yanks say;

The American flags placed on the moon over 40 years ago are now completely white, bleached by harsh U.V rays and unfiltered sunlight.