Flag Retirement in Observation of Veteran's Day

Students across Gilmer County are joining together to show their support for our veterans and for our local troops. This show of support comes on the heels of a school-wide participation of the election.

Students at many of the schools voted in a mock election, studied and dressed up like our 43 presidents, or participated in a electoral college coloring contest, i.e. guess which nominee would win which state.

A week after a historical election, students are supporting the men and women who helped defend this great country. Flags are going up across the town, while one was coming down.

In a flag retirement ceremony, held in observation of Veterans Day, over 150 students gathered and many more watched from classroom windows, as Boy Scouts Evan Seymore, Nick Roth and Davis Lacey retired the tattered 'Old Glory' that hung outside the high school.

The ceremony, coordinated by assistant troop leader Steve Calhoun, educated students and staff to the different meanings of the stars and stripe, while reminding them of the different wars and combat events Americans lost their lives in.

Each stripe represented a different war, with Seymore announcing how many American lives were lost. Lacey handed off pieces of the flag to teachers who had served in the military and to fellow teachers. Principal Erick Hofstetter was given the stars.

Each individual then placed the stripe on one fire pile, while Hofstetter placed the stars on a separate fire.

The meaning for the separation is that the stripes represent the many battles in which the union fought while the stars represents the unity under which the country was founded and remains.

The concept behind the flag burning ceremony dates back to the founding of the country, when our forefathers swore that the American flag would never be captured. Hence, the flag burning ceremony was created to retire deserving flags.

But it was a cold morning, as I stood, waiting for the flag retirement ceremony, lost in my thoughts of what I needed to do that day and really wishing I had worn another jacket. It was cold, until the Boy Scouts built the fire.

Now the fire wasn't for my enjoyment, but it felt good nonetheless.

It always amazes me how I attend events and ceremonies with one intention and walk away with something completely different. Life is funny that way.

I heard the announcement for the students who were to attend the ceremony. I watched as they filed out onto the front lawn. As students opened windows to partake in the moment.

And it was a moment, indeed.

The flag, faded and torn, but still waving, hung in the air, patiently waiting, as if inviting all of us to sit beneath her threads and find shelter. That's what the flag was meant to do, at least symbolically, right?

As she came down, I stood, in the silence of over 150 students, in awe. Not one student made a sound. It was as if the entire entire world had quieted itself for this moment.

The scouts cut the flag into its respective stripes, and in the growing heat of a small ceremonial fire, I found the silence within.

I contemplated a great many things in those hushed moments, as I watched these respected scouts, under the guidance of the assistant troop leader Steve Calhoun and their Principal Erick Hofstetter, honored such a staple in the fabric of our history.

To be honest, this is the first true Veterans Day celebration I have been to, that I can remember. There were moments when I forgot I was there to do a job, moments where history won out over the every day humdrum of bills, finances, relationships.

I rested there on that mountainside, looking out over the foothills. Ghosts of our forefathers lingering in the November breeze.

I was impressed by the sensibility that these young men and women showed, the respect they gave not only their peers but the flag that flew during times of peace, times of war, inclement fronts and sunny days.

Students taking photographs of a ceremony they may never see again, teachers who served into the military standing proudly as three young men walked all of us through time and space. To every battle won and lost, every life changed by war and strife, by peace and hope underneath red, white and blue.

As the bugle played 'Taps,' I began to thank the heavens that I found myself here at this precise moment in time.

There is so much for me to learn, so much education left for me to obtain, and someone saw fit to set me here, right in the thick of it.

I don't think there could have been a better place for me at this point.

I suggest to any and all who can observe this holiday, please do so. Even if it is to just take a moment on any particular day (as veterans should be remembered every day, not just the second tuesday of every November), do so. Say a prayer, have a smile, share your thoughts with a veteran, here and gone. After all, we are free to roam about this great country because they fought. They died. They believed. We remember.