Honoring Our United States Flag

Our United States Flag is a symbol of our growing and changing nation and it is a symbol of all the people of the United States. Our United States flag is a symbol of our past, present and future. People have fought for our flag because of what it stands for. Our flag is an important part of our country and what it stands for. We should all honor our flag and sometimes I think that we forget our proper manners when we are around our United States flag. Here are some reminders for us to remember what the flag means to us and how we should behave around our United Staes flag.

Our United States flag has changed a lot over the years. In 1818 congress passed a law and as a result our number of stripes was 13 for the 13 original colonies that started our nation. The law that was passed by congress stated that we should have a star on our flag to represent each state in our country. So that is why we now have 50 stars on our flag and possibly in the future there will be more stars added onto our United States flag if we get more states to join us.

We have certain customs that we should follow with our flag. The United States flag should not be flown in the dark it is customary to fly our flag only from sun rise to sun set. But if it should fly at night it should always have a light shining on it to it is never in the dark. If the weather is bad out the United States flag should not be flown it should be brought inside so it does not get wet. When you see the United States flag at half mast that means our country is in morning. If you see a United States flag is being flown upside down it is a sign that someone is in distress. Our United States Flag should never touch the ground or be used as a drapery. If our flag is flown with another flag the United States flag should always be at the top. The flag does wear out like most things do and if it does get dirty or torn beyond repair it should be destroyed in a dignified way preferably by burning.

When we see the United States flag in a parade we should salute it as it goes by and if the Pledge of Allegiance is in the background we should also salute our flag.