Hellobee Boards

I love your shirt! We don't wear anything that has the flag or its likeness out of respect, but my boys will be wearing red, white, and blue this weekend. We will be visiting relatives at Arlington Cemetery and we might go to the concert on the Mall. I am not sure. It will be so crowded.

For us this is also the start of summer, so I plan to wear a swim suit as much as possible and alternate between the pool and splash pad. I cannot wait for the start of pool season!

Happy Memorial Day to our friends to the south!

@Pollywog: Curious Candadian here, wondering why you don't wear things with the flag or its likeness?

@Autumnmama79: It is actually against the law (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8-- but the Supreme Court says that you can wear it and buy and sell flag clothing as a right of free speech. It is complicated).

It was super important to my grandfather who was a World War II vet. It really annoyed him and his veteran friends because they treated the flag with great respect in the military. His view was you would never let the flag touch the ground, so why is it okay to sit on the ground wearing shorts with a flag on them? He felt that patriotism is something that you should show through your actions, not your apparel. This was one of a few things he felt strongly about and it really stuck with me.

I am much more in favor of the free speech argument that it is okay. But I know so many veterans feel so strongly about this and they tend to congregate near my house (I live within walking distance of Arlington National Cemetery) that I would hate for them to think we didn't respect their service or the country.

@Pollywog: Thank you for sharing that information! So considerate of you to be mindful of the folks in your area and making an effort to show respect.

@Pollywog: Flag shorts used to drive my grand father (a world war II vet) crazy. He used to complain all the time about people putting the flag all over their rear ends, although he used more colorful language.

We usually wear red white and blue for fourth of July but I don't usually make a point of it for memorial day. Mostly because I am lazy and forget to tell my kids to wear those colors. We do spend Saturday morning putting flags out on all the graves a the Los Angeles National Cemetery. It's a program the scouts put on and a service they provide. Each scout places a flag reads the gravestone and says thank you for your service and then salutes the graves. We have done it every year since my kids started cub scouts. Its a beautiful way to provide a service and teach our kids what the holiday is about.