I bought an American Flag

Lesson from my Great Aunt

Before Bush went into Iraq, which dates me, I guess, I was doing a pretty good job developing an audience for my stand-up comedy in Dayton, OH, on the same stage Dave Chapelle would perform on and visit occasionally.

There was a show, invite only, for the better performers, and I was selected, but I got up on stage like a good patriot and told the crowd:

“Seeing all these American flags flying around, especially at car dealerships and retail, makes me think the government is selling us a bag of goods and I’m in the USSR”

Needless to say, I bombed.

I wasn’t the only one who bombed.

Bill Maher got fired from ABC for being skeptical.

Look, the news played on our emotions; it made us feel very uncomfortable when Elie Wiesel was in Parade magazine saying it’s a moral imperative to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

While I don’t always have time to think things through, I do rely on my gut, and I felt we were going into Iraq when I couldn’t figure out the connection between Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein.

The Colonel's speech at the UN was delivered to an audience as if they were all 3rd graders and was too on-the-nose.

Skeptical doesn’t mean unpatriotic. I just think American flags should be honored, not commercialized.

And no way am I going to wave a Ukrainian flag or any other foreign flag.

So when I saw flags flown over the White House on Easter under Biden that were not the US flag, that made me upset.

A lot of things that the past few years have rattled everything I was brought up to believe in.

I come, like most of you, from immigrant parents (somewhere down the line), and my great-aunt told me that where she was from, she was not allowed to own real estate. So every day she owns a house in her name here, she thanks God for giving her a chance to live in the land of the free.

This past spring, my inept HOA ordered me to fix my driveway, and when I was standing with my contractor, he asked me if there was anything else he could do for me?

Thinking about our military fighting for us overseas so we can be conducting business and buying ice cream with your kids and seeing how some politicians don’t give the impression of America first…

“Let’s put up a big American flag over my driveway.”

As long as the principles that founded this country prevail, never bet against America.

Something that some think is a rallying cry.

It’s not.

Rest up, fireworks aren’t just on the 4th and December 31st, we probably have 6 more months of fireworks.

We are seeing the entire world change in front of our eyes. I don’t care who you are we all have skin in the game and, like most of you, I’m a bit confused.

Look forward in figuring out a little bit with you,

Eric

PS. If you have a personal story about putting up a flag, I would love to hear about it