Courage, Bravery, and Hope

I have three brothers, who are all of scouting age. That means that my family has spent many early holiday mornings and evenings setting up and taking down flags, around the neighborhood. Being September 11th, today was another opportunity. (Fortunately) The boys had it covered this morning, but when it came time to take down tonight, my mom, Jackson, and I were the only ones home. That meant I got to stand in as a Boy Scout. I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't all that excited. I was glad I went though!
Just before leaving, I had read probably ten blog posts of reflections on 9/11. That obviously helped set the mood. My mom drove us up the hill, and Jackson and I jumped out of the car to walk towards the first flag. I pulled it off the rebar, and started rolling it. I've always been taught that the flag can NOT touch the ground, so I had to hold the pole up to do the rolling. This wasn't any sort of physically challenging feat, but it was emotionally encouraging.
Having to hold the pole up, keeping the fabric off the ground, I was able to admire the colors.

Red

White

Blue

Stars

Stripes

Guys, that was powerful! I was so proud of my country! I am so grateful to live in a country where we can choose our religion; where men and women have equal rights; where we have SO many people who are willing to fight for us to keep those freedoms, and so many more.

I know each of the three colors in our flag each mean something. At one point, I knew those meanings, but tonight I decided on my own: courage, bravery, and hope.
Our country was founded on those ideals. We fight for those ideals. And, I'm so grateful for that!

Today, I am grateful for the 9/11 experience. I'm grateful for that trial, because it has taught me to be--you guessed it--grateful for this country!