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E Pluribus Unum
| Joined: | Mon Oct 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 249 |
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Furl that banner! for 'tis weary:
Round its staff 'tis drooping, dreary;
Furl it, fold it, it is best;
Furl it, hide it, let it rest.
Abram Joseph Ryan, April 1865, soon after Lee's surrender
Calcav, when you quoted this a certain painting came to mind...
"Furling of the Flags" by Richard Norris Brooke.
That flag was not being rolled up simply because they lost the war. This painting does an excellent job of illustrating the complete exhaustion that must have been felt at the time. These men watched their comrades die and still continued to fight for what they believed in for years. That flag represented where they were coming from and where they were then going home to. The flag was lowered and their losses were and still are remembered. Unfortunately it is usually the uneduacted ones who give the flag the wrong representation which in turn makes those who do choose to unfurl it seem racist, evil and overall--uneducated and uncultivated.
Fuller