Standing Against the Wind

You are running. Running, running…Time is counted by how many steps you take... How many breaths you take... All around you there is smoke and debris; images of your fellow comrades that have fallen flash by you as you continue running. Yet, you see nothing but the American flag, waving high at the top of a pole, waving for freedom and liberty; justice. That flag is the reason you keep running. That flag is what makes you a Patriot for life. That flag still stands, and as long as it does, so will the country and the millions of people being the wind to make it wave.

My grandfather, Delmar Clark Khonke, told me of the wars that he fought in, all of them as courageous and full of bravery as the next. Also within the stories my grandfather relived was the grief and sadness that lingered in the air with every gunshot. Yet, knowing that death is a possibility, brave people with big hearts, like my grandfather, still give the safety of themselves for our country. That is pure Patriotism. This patriotism stays within the lives of everyone, whether it is someone taking their last heroic breath and the American flag is placed upon their casket as a symbol of their honor, or it is someone placing a rose upon that casket; our patriotism will never truly fade.

As a child, I was told that the American flag should hang outside every house, that it flies over all the United States and that it shall never, ever touch the ground. Now, as a young adult, things have not changed. Our American flag still flies all over our country, our houses wear red stripes; blue and white stars, and our flag hangs proudly, high above the ground. Over the years I have learned that this is what Patriotism is. It is the flag that flies against the wind. It is the flag that lasts through hardship, and it is the flag that reminds us every day of the millions of people that make that flag fly. For as long as that flag is seen standing against the wind, the rain, and the hardship, our country will be standing behind it.