Several years ago, there was much controversy over the Confederate or "rebel" flag. Now it is at an all time high with the uproar over the one that flies in South Carolina! It is now and shall always be a symbol of our heritage...not hate. Nor does it stand solely for the civil war. It stands for the south and for the men who lived and died for causes they that they were proud to defend. It also serves to remind us all that the most important thing is our freedom of choice and the freedom to make those choices...be they right or wrong.
You can take any symbol and it will offend someone somewhere. This flag was never designed nor intended to represent slavery. It was to unite our boys and give them a flag to fight under during the war. Because the South seceeded from the Union, they felt they had a right to their own flag. And, there was more than one "rebel" flag. There was the Confederate Battle Flag and and well as a similar Confederate Flag.
This flag should stand, if for no other reason, to remind us that once many good men died horrible deaths over a war that was so needless. We should remember that these were real human beings...not some vague shadows in a history book. It was a wrong war...and maybe for some of the wrong reasons but it happened....and burning all the flags in the world will never change that fact or right those wrongs from years past.
I will be the first to say slavery was and always will be wrong....but I will be the first to say that if you think abolishing, burning and doing away with this one flag can change history and all the negative feelings over the Civil War, you are sadly mistaken.
This flag is part of the South's Heritage and you can never change that. Many wrongs were done on both sides but over the years, it seems to me that a lot has been forgotten. I think the burning of Atlanta was wrong and Sherman offends me. Can we burn and abolish him and all memorials to him?
There are those who want to forever abolish this flag because they say it stood for hatred and racism. That is not true.....in the twisted minds of a very few, that may be the reason they uphold this flag. But, as for me and most of those I know, it only serves to remind us of the south...proud and brave...which we love so much.
I say we get over it, let it be. It has flown for hundreds of years and we should be worrying more about other things that need abolishing like child abuse, rapists who walk the streets freely, lying and cheating politicians, children who are walking into schools and opening fire on their classmates, homelessness, Cancer, Aids, unemployment, mothers who dump their newborns in garbage cans...and the list goes on.
Note: March 23, 2000
I posted this under My Babble....but it seems to fit here......
If you visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio....and dare to venture to the 2 floors dedicated to rap and hip - hop, take special notice of some of the clothes worn by these preformers. There is a shirt that proclaims in huge black letters: WHITE IS SOUR- LONG LIVE BLACK POWER. There is another that says "Kill ALL the white people....but buy my record first". And a hat that states HELL YEAH! I AM above the law!
Why weren't whites marching and picketing the Hall of Fame demanding that these demeaning items be done away with? Why wasn't there people yelling on the National news to burn this tee shirt? Someone, please tell me what is the difference? This offended me...and another couple that was right beside us also commented on it.
What's good for the goose.............
The Confederate Civil War Re-Enactment Soldiers march in the local parade.
Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia
Senoia, a town south of Atlanta, made famous in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes".
One of the many back roads of Georgia in the fall.....
Taken at Saint Simons Island
The Okefenokee Swamp.
A residential street in Macon...notice the Cherry Blossoms :)
