Do you know

what the Oklahoma state flag looks like? Ever see New Mexico's state flag?

What about Delaware, New Hampshire or Maryland's?

Chances are,

unless you are from one of those states, you have no idea what they look

like and even then you still may have no clue. I know I didn't know anything

about state flags until I started doing research for this column. I know

what these state flags look like now and I know a little bit about their

history, but I'm sure it will leak out of my brain sometime soon because

they are simply not that important.

I decided to

look at the state flags of the United States because I am growing very

tired of the hubbub surrounding our state flag. The pages of the state's

newspapers and the airwaves of talk radio and local news are filled with

the screaming, hooting and hollering of people on both sides of the issue.

I feel that it is terribly divisive and unnecessary. Anyone who can consider

this "healing" must have a pretty, twisted definition of the

term.

So, here are

some facts about state flags that may be of interest. First, and perhaps

most importantly, 23 states, currently including Georgia, have either

their state seal or coat of arms as a feature of their flag. Even more

have the state motto somewhere on the flag. A few states have Confederate

emblems or symbols, including Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. But,

what some people may not realize is, Mississippi's St. Andrew's cross

has 13 stars inside it to represent the 13 colonies, and while Arkansas'

flag has a star to represent being a part of the Confederate states, it

also has three stars underneath to represent Spain, France and the United

States, representing the countries that have ruled the land.

Nearly every

state flag has the color blue on it, though the shades differ and for

different reasons. Another common trait of the state flags is to have

horizontal red and white stripes of varying widths. Some state flags like

Oregon and Wyoming have their state animals on them, a beaver and a bison

respectively, while others feature animals common to the region. For instance,

Michigan has an elk, a moose and an eagle, while Vermont features a moose.

Most state

flags are fairly boring but some states, like New Mexico, have really

cool flags. New Mexico's flag is red and yellow, the colors of Spain,

whose people settled the land. The red sun symbol in the middle has four

sets of four rays emanating from it representing the four seasons, the

four directions, four times of day and four stages of life. Ohio's flag

is perhaps the most unique as it has a swallowtail design, which is a

deeply forked tail. Oklahoma's flag honors more than 60 groups of Native

Americans that have called their state home. Alaska's state flag was designed

a watch.

So, the question

is what do we do with our state flag. A big part of me says slap the state

seal on it, which our current flag has, and put the state motto, which

is "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation," beneath it. It may lean

more towards the boring, but we could probably use the break from all

the excitement of "healing."

If you want

to fly the old state flag with the confederate symbol on it, be my guest.

Most people who like it have it in front of their homes or on a bumper

sticker or a vanity plate anyway. If the flag with the Confederate symbol

doesn't make it back on top of the state capitol, it's not like it will

ever disappear from sight. People will always have to see it and tolerate

it, but it doesn't have to and shouldn't be the official state symbol.

I would recommend

writing your representatives and telling them how you feel on this issue,

but they have wasted enough time already. It seems as though this first

legislative session was filled with state flag rhetoric, losing weight

with Sonny and discussing whether it should be against the law to not

serve sweet tea. We look like the stupidest, laziest state in the union

and enough is enough.

This flag issue

should be handled the way parents handle their children fighting over

a toy. If you can't play nicely with the flag, then neither of you will

play with it at all.

Back

to the Top of the Page