Great America Series: Rally Around the Flag

I wanted to write something inspiring in honor of September 11th. But somehow, the memory of that dreadful day when three thousand Americans lost their lives through a coordinated series of despicable acts, just leaves me cold and empty.

What followed, however, was inspiring. And that brings me to what I want to post tonight. The Great America Series is a recurring series of posts that involve single words or small phrases that describe this wonderful miracle of a nation that we enjoy. Previous posts have centered on American know-how, rugged individualism and the Judeo-Christian work ethic.

This one is about how we rally together in times of crisis.

I had a teacher in the eighth grade, I think her name was Mrs. Wiggins. She taught American History and her passion about the 1940's inspired me. So much so that to this day, I cannot get enough information about that WWII era.
When I was in the eighth grade at that Junior High School in the small town of LaFayette, Georgia, the Vietnam War had just ended. In fact, I believe it was that same year that the last Americans pulled out, leaving that country to a bloodthirsty enemy bent on vengeance.

Mrs. Wiggins told us that one reason there was such turmoil in our country over that war was that we were not directly attacked. She said that if anyone ever attacked this nation, the people would always rally together. And she pointed to Pearl Harbor and December 7, 1941 as her example. I remember how she talked about everyone joining in to help with the war effort during that time.

That's what Americans do. In crisis, we rally around the flag. Like some dysfunctional families, we may be at one anothers throats most of the time. But you let some outsider come in and harm our sibling and -dysfunctional or not- there will be a scrap!

A little while back, I entered into an in depth discussion with my brother-in-law and my father-in-law. We talked about religion and we talked about politics. Then my father-in-law asked us if we remembered what things were like on those few days after the September 11th attack in 2001. I don't think either of us said anything, but we knew... there were several days in which you just wanted to plaster flags everywhere in defiance of those that had attacked us. Communities were coming together for prayer services; people from down here in the southland were loading up in trucks and vans to go up and help out that bunch of yankees in New York City; people looked other people in the eyes and asked - "are you doing okay?" - and they really meant it!

People were freely talking about God and praying for each other - even congressmen "crossed the aisle" to sing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps.

It was really, amazingly - neat!

That's what my brother-in-law and I were thinking and my father-in-law's eyes glimmered as he said, "that's just the way in used to be - all the time".

It didn't just happen during acts of war. How many hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters have brought people together in this country? Hurricane Katrina was such a politicized tragedy but in her aftermath, how many people loaded up there tools and went to help? When refugees were coming to our state, healthcare workers, churches and volunteers met them at Welcome Centers and took care of them.

But I think that's always been the case... whether it was barn-raising in the Amish country, or joining together to bring in the cotton crop in the deep south- Americans count on other Americans in a pinch.

I don't suppose anyone captures that spirit of America any better than my favorite movie director, Frank Capra. One of the hallmarks of his movies is big crowds, often rallying together in order to come to someone's aid. Remember Jimmy Stewart and that crowded living room during the closing scene of "It's a Wonderful Life!" - that was America, and Frank Capra found a way to put that into most all of his movies.

In this clip from the last scene of "Meet John Doe" another Frank Capra movie, Barbara Stanwyck tries to convince Gary Cooper ("John Doe") not to jump off that building at midnight on Christmas eve. Well, you need to see the movie to understand it, but what you will see is a lot of people gathering together at a time of crisis.

So what happened to that "rally around the flag" attitude?

Well, the last time -as I recall - it was an election. Some time around the 2004 campaign, political parties decided that a united front just wasn't worth the loss of power. So it became popular for elected officials to speak out against the President and his policies -even during times of war...even sometimes on foreign soil.

Can we get it back? Perhaps.

But first I think we have to talk to people that really remember what "coming together for a common purpose" was like.

The real tragedy of 9/11 may not have been the senseless death of so many... it may be that we didn't come together and stay together when we had the chance.