[Vision2020] Fw: GLORY IN THE MAKING

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From: "Crapo News Release (Crapo)" newsclips at crapo.senate.gov
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:25:58 -0700
To: 
Subject: GLORY IN THE MAKING

FOR RELEASE 	                        CONTACT:           Susan Wheeler
(202) 224-5150
Week of June 10, 2007	                          Laura Thurston Goodroe
(202) 224-7500

			GLORY IN THE MAKING
	Guest opinion submitted by Idaho Senator Mike Crapo

On June 14, 1914, Franklin Lane, then Interior Secretary, delivered an
address entitled "The Flag Maker," in honor of Flag Day.  Lane relayed a
"conversation" that he had with the American flag in his office that
morning.  Here are excerpts:

'I know you well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of
yesterday, straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in
Idaho...or helped to clear that patent for a hopeful inventor in New
York, or pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that
mine in Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in
Wyoming...'

'Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of Alaska;
but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into the night,
to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the Flag.  

'Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yesterday,
maybe a schoolteacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who will
one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our
race...'  

'But,' I said impatiently, 'these people were only working!'  

Then came a great shout from the Flag:  

'The work that we do is the making of the Flag. 'I am not the Flag; not
at all. I am but its shadow.' 

'I am whatever you make me, nothing more.' 

'I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.' 

'I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks
and tired muscles.' 

'Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, fitting
the rails together truly.' 

'Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I
play the coward.' 

'But always, I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try
for.' 

'I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.' 

'I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and state-maker, soldier
and dreadnaught, drayman and sweep, cook, counselor and clerk.' 

'I am the battle of yesterday and the mistake of tomorrow.' 

'I am the clutch of an idea and the reasoned purpose of resolution.' 

'I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of
yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this
nation. My stars and my stripes...are bright with cheer, brilliant with
courage, firm with faith, because you have made them so out of your
hearts; for you are the makers of the Flag, and it is well that you
glory in the making.' 

On Flag Day 2007, these 93-year-old sentiments ring surprisingly true.
As our great nation wrestles with issues like war, immigration and
prosperity, we should remember we are all "Flag Makers," giving meaning
and strength to the great nation represented by Old Glory.  We love our
country; most of us would die for her.  This is what inspires immigrants
to leave their countries for our shores and what inspires passionate
debate about how best to handle immigration.  It motivates men and women
every day to swear to protect the United States-with their very lives,
if required.  

The daily toils, hopes and dreams of millions of Americans living and
passed is the shape and glory of 13 red and white stripes shielding 50
white stars on a blue field.  These are the Stars and Stripes of our
United States of America, to whom we and our ancestors having shed
former allegiances to countries of birth, gladly, proudly and without
hesitation, now bear true faith and allegiance.  

WORD COUNT:  600

To link directly to this news release, please go to:
http://crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/release_full.cfm?id=275592&&


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