Arlee students learn about sacrfice behind symbolic flags
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Arlee students listen to a presentation by Sgt. Chuck Lewis about why flags should be respected.
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
ARLEE – Flags are more than bits of colorful cloth sewn together. They represent the rights associated with the country that flies them and a price paid by servicemen and women for those rights, Arlee students learned at a Nov. 20 presentation.
Diane Aguilar, food services director for the school, wanted Marine veteran Sgt. Chuck Lewis to speak about the importance of the flag, after she noticed the cavalier way students treated the symbol.
“The children don’t hear enough why the flag is so important,” Aguilar said. “We lose, just through the years, the importance of saying the Pledge of Allegiance and things like that in class. I love flags and I started putting them in the dining room when we got the new dining room and when we started getting flags, the kids would go by and slap the corner of it.”
This is not proper flag etiquette. Flags should be respected and are arranged according to their rank, with all flags except those of sovereign nations being displayed lower than the U.S. national flag. Their disposal and care require careful protocol.
In his presentation Lewis used a handful of flags he recently pushed in a 160-pound hand cart from Everett, Wash. to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness and almost $40,000 for wounded veterans. He explained to the children that they have a right to respect or disrespect the flag because of those who gave their lives for that freedom. Lewis said veterans might bear physical scars for their sacrifices like Tomy Parker, a Ronan Marine veteran who lost two legs and all but a thumb on one of his hands when he stepped on a improvised explosive device in 2010.
Other veterans might come back physically intact, but suffer emotional scars, Lewis explained. He gave an example of Cpl. Greg Avila, of St. Ignatius, who took his own life less than a month after he left the Marine Corps in June 2012.
Lewis told the children their patriotism and respect for veterans and the flag can make a difference.
“Invariably there’s going to be someone that comes home that maybe just lives down the street from you,” Lewis said. “All you have to do is go over and knock on their door, thank them for their service. Let them know there are people out there that care. That’s one of the things that helps: patriotism.”
Patriotism is no longer engrained into American’s school system, Lewis contended. On his walk he found school districts that said they could not afford flags, but were able to buy every student an electronic tablet. One teacher asked him to speak to her class because students refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
“One of the things that bothers me here in schools in Montana – I mean people in the military have died for that flag – but after sixth grade, it’s not required. It’s optional to say the Pledge of Allegiance,” Lewis said.
Patriotism is something that must be taught to the next generation in order to survive, and Aguilar hopes the presentation will help Arlee students remember to honor veterans and the flag.
“Everybody forgets their patriotism and what the soldiers have gone through,” Aguilar said. “We need to hear that. The kids need to hear that. They don’t hear it enough.”
Devi Cole drove all the way from Missoula so her two children, Ellah, 6, and Gavin,11, could learn about patriotism and the flag.
“I wanted to bring my kids because I know they learn stuff in school … we watch the news about soldiers, but I wanted them to see something positive, not just the deaths we see on the news. If they see a flag what does it actually mean?” Cole said. “After 9/11, this last year, she would see things on the news and I would see her getting emotional about it. I thought this would help her see the other side of what soldiers do and help her learn a little more about this stuff.”
