you learn something new every day
Apparently, according to the U.S. Flag Code, you're supposed to put your hand over your heart when standing at attention for the National Anthem. I read about it in this snopes article.
I was taught -- by teachers? parents? TV? I don't remember, it was so long ago -- that you were to stand quietly and respectfully with your hands at your side. Putting them in front or behind you was "hiding" something, so they were to be flat at your side. If you're wearing a hat, you remove it and place it close to your left shoulder so that your hand is over your heart. If you're in certain types of uniform, you salute.
Other than for people wearing hats, I've never heard of putting the hand over the heart for the National Anthem. Quite the contrary, I distinctly remember the business about having the hands flat at one's side rather than in back. But there it is, right in the Flag Code.
Why was I taught wrong by so many different people? And by the looks of the crowds at sporting events, I'm not the only one unaware of this rule. Or maybe they just don't care. I would have cared, had I known.
Now, for the Pledge of Allegiance, yes, we were taught in elementary school to put the right hand over the heart, but today was the first I'd heard of doing it for the National Anthem. All these years, veterans attending baseball games have probably been bad-mouthing me behind my back, and I had no idea!
5 Comments:
Dude, as a long-time "Legionette", I could have told you this little tidbit...but how does one know s/he isn't "playing by the rules" if one doesn't KNOW the rules? (Also, as you were two seats to the LEFT of me at the "Baseball Game Which Shall Never Again Be Mentioned," I didn't notice your unintentional "flag pas".)
Now, if I could only get those people on my street to either haul in their flag every evening at dusk OR install a spotlight on the thing...
What's funny is, I've read the Flag Code before, but still didn't catch that bit, maybe because I was only reading the parts about the flag itself and not the National Anthem.
I do find it funny that so many folks think they're being extra-ultra-super patriotic by flying the flag 24/7 (I'm lookin' at you, used car dealers!), yet in most situations this isn't proper at all. And don't even get me started on using the flag as a piece of advertising (again, I'm lookin' at you, used car dealers! *COUGH*pato'brienchevroletwestlake).
It's also a little unsettling that the "respectful" way to dispose of a worn flag is to burn it...
I was always taught that you put your hand over your heart, and if you were in a military (or police?) uniform you were to salute the flag for the National Anthem. I have also seen military vets salute the flag - can't remember if they were in or out of uniform, though). I think it stands to reason - we face the flag to sing the Anthem just like we face the flag to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Why would your hand placement be any different? Not that 7 year old children should be able to catch that...and once you learn it, that's it.
I used to think that burning a worn out flag was kind of morbid in a sense. People burn the flag as a protest - seems like a cruel thing to do when it's just because the flag has seen better days. The difference is, I think you're supposed to contact a military office of sorts (like a VFW or army office, something) and they come to handle the burning of the flag. I dunno, never read the flag code. It would be considered more disrespectful to throw a flag into the garbage. Too much symbolism attached to both the flag and the garbage can to allow the two to meet. :)
Yep, you can contact various groups for proper flag disposal. I know the Boy Scouts burn thousands of worn out flags each year, but because it's done with a certain ceremonial symbolism, it gets a pass from the Amendment-pushers. :) And you're exactly right that the reason for it is (I'm told) because it's better to 'decommission' the flag and burn it than to simply toss it in the garbage. I guess kinda how Catholics 'desanctify' an unused church building before tearing it down.
Now I have to hunt down the folks who made a point about "flat at the side" and tell them they were wrong. :D Obviously it wasn't just a generational thing.
I should also mention, it must have just been a happy coincidence that I usually wore a baseball cap to Indians games when I was a kid, hence my hand was already over my heart simply by knowing the hat rule. But I attended hundreds of high school football and basketball games when my brother was playing and my dad was coaching, and I can swear with almost 100% certainty that I always stood with my hands flat at my side, thinking it was 'respectful.' Oh well.
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