World Cup

Proud and...relatively loud here in Montreal. Happy, family-friendly loud. 

Not World Cup loud, but maybe that will be the finals ;).

A Small Proposal...

In the wake of the racist attacks in Charleston I checked our country's first policy statement, the Declaration of Independence, and it still looks relatively non-racist to me. I've always been proud of how eloquent and...well, democratic it is (forgiving the Men part):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the governed...

But the real powerhouse that drives our government is the Constitution, and though our nation's founders made a lot of mistakes in its creation, through trial and tribulation we've mostly righted those wrongs through amendments (and war) so the racist and sexist parts are gone and the preamble's tone fits better than ever. 

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the the United States of America. 

I even re-checked the Pledge of Allegiance, to make sure that what I've been reciting all my life in devotion to my country and gratitude for all those who govern and defend it is fair and it too seems fine:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

But unlike all these drastic ways our country broke the mold and created a country like no other before or since, we didn't use much imagination when it came to our flag's colors, and none of the symbolism we've given to them since was present originally according to this Washington Post article. We simply took the British flag colors and made them into different shapes and configurations over time, as if we knew it didn't quite fit but couldn't think of anything better. 

I love the design of our current flag, it's been in place throughout my lifetime and the symbolism of the original colonies (stripes) and current states (stars) is nicely done. It's also a symbol of our fight for freedom through many wars and disasters so like most Americans I've very attached. 

But I think new colors could better represent who we are as a country, bands of people uprooted and transplanted from every other country in the world, united in our desire for democracy, equality, liberty and justice for all. We're one of more than 30 flags using red, white and blue. I think we can do better. 

There are preparations for adding a 51st star to the flag should we gain another state. So while we're making changes anyway and in need of some unity, I propose changing the colors to make our flag look as original as we Americans are, and reflect what we look like in reality. 

You can probably do a better job of drawing this yourself, I'm no artist and couldn't get all the tones right.. I tried to color one online at crayola.com and failed miserably (trust me, it's harder than it looks). I also added the words later as a flourish, they're not part of the design. But you get the gist.

Let's color our flag "us" and make a flag that fits our uniqueness. 

Love, Lisa