While driving to and from school I find myself observing what is around me and some of these things evoke emotions within me. During this commute I see car accidents, yellow school buses, and many other things, but one of the most powerful objects I drive past is a piece of fabric. This fabric is typically attached to a lone pole and juts up into the sky, allowing all to pass to see its glory. Winds pick up this piece of fabric and pull it taunt, showing off its brilliant colors of red, white and blue. Stars and stripes protrude into the blue sky and the white stripes blend into the wispy white clouds as if they were made to compliment each other. This object, the American flag, awakens feelings inside me that cannot be matched by any other object. Its 13 stripes and 50 stars stand as symbol of where I am, who I am, and what I want to be.

The spangling red stripes of the flag remind me of boot camp, where I learned the meaning of the red color. Memories of the tough, loud drill instructors bombarding me with trivial facts about the flag echo in my mind. They taught that the red in our country’s flag symbolized the blood shed to protect America’s ideals. With this thought of blood, a plethora of images envelope me and leave me with fragmented scenes of soldiers dying for their country to retain its honor and power. Images of military burials, with "taps," play in the back of my mind and a twenty one gun salute showers me with the feelings of loss and pride that these individuals leave with the United States. Pride that the people of this nation are willing to fight for what they see as the greatest nation and die for the ideals that go with it.

It is pride that the blue in the flag was intended to symbolize. Pride in what the United States has made available to its people and what the U.S. has done to guarantee that these rights remain in place. A sense of pride in our land and the people that it has produced are parts of the tale that this lone flag is trying to teach.

While these scattered thoughts flood me I look back up at the majestic, blowing flag in front of me. A shimmering light is reflecting from it like the light created by a million stars on a clear night. As the wind makes the flag wave in the crisp air it seems as if the flag takes on a life of its own and is greeting everyone that comes upon it with a friendly wave. At the same time, the flag dances in the light bringing a playful atmosphere onto the busy city street that it lives beside. Watching this dance my mind wonders off into a new realm of thought...what music is it dancing to? I realize the tune to which the flag dances is inconsequential to the life of such a beautiful object. Waving high up in the sky among the birds the flag has a view of everything and can see our every action. It has seen acts of kindness and acts of malice; it does not judge us, rather it reminds us of what we are, where we have been, and who we might wish to become. Graceful and omniscient, this symbol of freedom bids me farewell as I look at in my rearview mirror. Feeling proud to have seen it and hear the tales that it has taught me I am warmed by the thought that it will remain there high in the sky for others to see and for me to pass by again on some other day.