Old Glory

Old Glory on EcstaSea has taken quite a beating lately. Last year she got whipped and shredded in the big winds and this is what she looked like when we left the boat for the winter:

So we bought a new flag and brought it with us this summer. Now the Captain and first mate clearly disagree on what size the flag should be. But it is a maritime law that we must fly one on the boat. Although a few years ago and with another political administration in power, we would have gladly done without a flag. In fact, we tried to swap flags with a Canadian couple then. Just kidding--kinda--well, not really....
Anyway, we bought and brought a size larger than the old one by mistake. And it is clearly too big. So the old one went up again--tied in a knot to prevent more shredding. We hope it is knot quite to the point of "defaming"it, but we don't know for sure. What is defaming anyway???
So now beautiful EcstaSea is adorned with a not so beautiful flag:

Now we notice the size of various countries flags over here. In general the British clearly fly the largest and the French the smallest. The Dutch and German are pretty big too. And we don't see enough US flags to generalize them. We're not really sure what all of this means or implies.

Grateful as we are to be born in America, we are painfully aware of the role that patriotism has and does play in the breeding of division. The division of countries is just another way of defining "us" and "them". We celebrate our differences and diversity but do not want to be divided by them. We are clearly thankful to be Americans with all of the freedom and opportunity that brings, yet we welcome the day when there is no longer a "them" and we are all "us". And on that day, we could all fly the same big flag celebrating our true humanity.