The New Generation.

Now let me first start by saying this....I am not the most patriotic person out there. I mean, I don't wear red every Friday like I should or anything like that but I do have respect for our country as my dad raised me to have.

Also, I live on an Air Force Base for those of you who do not know that and I will say for the most part, I see a lot of patriotic things going on here.

I pick my niece up from school each day. Sometimes, I get a little crazy and decide that I am going to get there early so that I can get my niece a little faster than having to wait in line for an hour while the morons who run the picking up system at her school figure out what the hell they are doing. Ok, getting off track. As I am waiting if I am lucky enough I get to watch four students take down the Arkansas flag and the Old Glory. They usually fold them up properly and walk them inside. But not today.

So there is a teacher and four new students doing the task this afternoon. So the first two boys take down the Arkansas flag and start folding it on the sidewalk away from the flag pole. They are being really careful and respectful and it is kind of fun to watch these kids. The second two boys that are handling the American flag... not so much. Now one important detail, I was actually talking with my operations manager on the phone while all of this was happening and deviated from our conversation about my incompetence when logging into a very important tool we use on a daily basis.

Anyhow, I am watching these other two boys handle the American flag and they proceed to drag it on the ground. Then one boy thought it would be funny to swing the flag over his head like a helicopter. I am shocked at this. So as I am talking to my operations manager I get side tracked and start watching these boys. Then I hear a horn honk and the look and start to play with the flag again while parents are watching and the teach is watching too! Then thankfully another parent in uniform goes, "HEY, STOP THAT!"

Thank goodness for him. You know, as I get older I start to realize something very, very real and sad at the same time. Some people in this country still do not instill in their children that we are Americans. We are strong! We are proud! Mostly, we are supposed to respect the country that we live in. I never thought I would see this type of behavior from a child that is being raised in a military family but I did and it makes me sad.

There are parents out there who say there is nothing more that they can do but the truth is that children learn from parents. It starts at the parents. So really I can say this. My dad and my mom did a great job of raising me to have respect for our country. I never in a million years would ever have done those things to the American flag and not got my ass whipped.

The end.