Flags And Framing



What goes through your mind and heart when you look at _________ (insert something real you like looking at, like someone's face, a favorite animal, a mountain range, etc.).

Now read the above sentence again, inserting your favorite symbol or something man has made (examples: money, car, boat, 'peace' sign, etc.).

Now insert the flag representing your state, country, or your family's coat of arms.

What do you feel? What do you 'see'? What do you hear?

Some become emotional when seeing a bald eagle. It beckons nostalgia, tells a particular storyline, portrays to them a noble cause and other things. A bald eagle, three certain colors in specific order, beckons strong emotions for some. The same phenomenon happens when others look at political symbols they've grown up with. These also speak a certain story producing nostalgia.

Do you get the same feeling when looking at the “M” from the McDonald's corporation? What feeling do you get seeing those golden arches? Anything? Hunger? Indigestion and gas? I really do like their French fries.

A recent opinion piece in the L.A. Times about the bear on the California state flag speaks a different picture typically realized when historic details are shared besides mainstream and popular narratives. I had somewhat of an idea as to how the territory I've traveled almost all my life became labeled California after it was called Mexico, and before that labeled Spanish imperial land, and before that called something else.

The land is real, but are identifying labels and terms real?

Depending on how history has been impressed upon you by parents, media, authors with a certain world-view and your political hierarchy, you can't help but see symbols in a particular manner.

Symbols speak something to you without actually uttering a word.

Have you noticed this idolatry?

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