This Tuesday, June 14, is Flag Day. It commemorates what happened on June 14, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress took a break from writing the Articles of Confederation and passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

I know that our flag exudes different feelings for different individuals. I get that. That’s part of the beauty of our nation — we don’t all see things the same way, and that’s a good thing. More on that later.

But where we are right now, especially in this day and age of so much darkness and division in our nation, I find myself wondering why more people don’t display our flag at the place they call home.

Before you stop reading because you think I’m about to go on a patriotic harangue designed to make you feel guilty, just take a moment and hear me out.

For me, my view of flying our flag goes back to what I observed in our nation on September 12, 2001. On the day after the 9/11 attacks, people across this nation did some serious introspection regarding America and their place in it. Our little cove of complacency, our sense of entitlement, our very security were individually and collectively shaken to their core.

Suddenly we all realized that at the end of the day, even as dysfunctional as we can sometimes be, at the end of the day “we the people” of America were really all we had to base our hopes of feeling secure on. As a result, in no time flat you couldn’t even find a flag in any store, as every single home and business bought one and flew it.

But here’s the thing — they weren’t all flying it as a show of support for any politician or political party or to be “rah rah look at how patriotic I am” about it. No, to be sure, everyone did so to show their friends and neighbors that they cared about them and the place they called home just like everyone else around them did.

Sure, there were different motivations in play. But again, that’s a good thing. At least with this one symbolic gesture, we were suddenly all on at least the same page of telling our neighbors we gave a rip.

There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. Nobody on one side told anyone on other side how useless they were. In fact, members of Congress from both parties joined hands and sang “God Bless America” on the steps of the US Capital.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois said: “When America suffers…we must stand united.”

Folks, we’ve been doing quite a bit of suffering as a nation here of late. You start with COVID pretty much turning everything completely upside down several years ago and go all the way up until this rash of idiotic killings we’ve seen and now prices spiraling out of control and we have all taken body blow after body blow that has taken a collective toll on the spirit of America as a whole.

But that’s the thing — each of us are attached to that spirit.

And that’s where I’m heading with what I want to say today. I want to ask you to find a flag and fly it this Tuesday, if for no other reason than to show solidarity with every other American that has been hurting just like you.

Yes, I know it’s just “a” symbol, but man what a powerful symbol it is. It has been through so much and been such a banner of hope for so many its power just cannot be denied or ignored.

Nor should it be. I see doing this as an opportunity for each of us to start a symbolic show of national healing.

If our politicians can’t acknowledge any worth in someone who doesn’t think exactly like them — which is about as un-American as it can get — then maybe us common folks can. And maybe in the process, we can teach them a long-overdue lesson regarding what being an American really is about.

In spite of what those politicians and media that are pandering to them would have you believe, it isn’t about voting along party lines. It isn’t about stomping your foot and holding your breath until you get your way, all your way, and nothing but your way. It isn’t about telling other people who don’t think like you that they are worthless idiots.

It is, however, about making a statement that regardless of what you think or believe, I’m going to defend your right to think and believe it — even though I may not agree with it.

In other words, it is saying “I’ve got your back” to every other American, and showing this flag is proof of that stance.

When you get down to the essence of what this once great nation truly is supposed to be and represent, that is it.

And that’s why I think it’s so important that on this Flag Day of all Flag Days that most of us have ever encountered we each make our own statement for our own reasons about the place we each call home. We all need to know ‘we the people’ are still “we” and not “us and them.’’