Today I rec'd this picture via email.The email stated that this flag is part of a flower field near Vandenberg AFB. According to the chain email, "the 2002 Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions, as described in Executive Order #10834. This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants, with 4-5 flower stems each, for a total of more than 2 million flowers." (Aerial photo courtesy of Bill Morson Soldiers' Prayer)
Now, this is the kicker. At the end of the email someone wrote, "For our soldiers...Please Don't Break It" as an encouragement for me (and others) to send this picture to everyone they know.
Now, I've heard of spurious relationships among variables. For example, one study found a positive correlation between birth rates and stork populations in Ireland. However, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what relationship could possibly exist between the circulation of this picture and our soldiers.
I suspect that the people who believe their patriotism is tied up in such nonsense are also the same people who feel that granting gay people the right to marriage will cause the destruction of modern civilization.
Ridiculous.
6 comments:
Although I respect your right to voice your opinion, in all frankness you are way off the mark. Do not discount the memory of veterans simply because you see no logic in another person's attempt to express love for his or her country. The truth is without such love expressed that way, you may have not have been able to express your opinion so freely your way. Like the hundreds of thousands of flowers forming old glory in that lonely stretch of acreage, the lives of those sacrificed to preserve freedom speak to a higher truth and a higher authority to whom one day we must all give a final accounting.
Yes, it's jingoistic drivel.
Despite receiving this E-mail today referring to the flag in the present tense, it was actually in full bloom in 2002, when the photo was taken (by Bill Morson) and it was harvested for seeds in 2003.
Although I am not a US citizen, I certainly appreciate the horticultural achievement this floral flag shows. However I am astounded that the photo is so old and the flag now non-existent. This causes me to ask why is it being touted around now?
I appreciate patriotism as much as anybody but surely we could be left to enjoy this and similar posts without these constant exhortations to "pass it along" in honour of this, that , or the other thing.
If it is worthwhile, I will do so anyway as will I also honour the servicemen and women of my own and allied countries in ways that are meaningful to me. However the USA is not the only country in the world so when you ask me to honour or remember 'our servicemen' it would be nice if you recalled occasionally that YOUR soldiers are not necessarily MINE.
We love our country too!!
I got this email but the picture didn't show so i wanted to see it - thanks
got this pic with the same story... "pass it along". No pic in e-mail. Glad I came to your site to see what it is all about.
got this as an email but can appreciate your comments. a beautiful flag, indeed. no need for connecting it to prayer, however, unless that is your wish.
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