I was driving home from a visit with my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in Pittsburgh, and as I came over a rise in West Virginia my breath was taken away as I saw an enormous American flag wave in the wind. Majestic is not too overblown a term to describe my impression. For a moment my heart swelled with gratitude that I live in such an amazing country, and I felt a deep pride in what the flag symbolizes and the hopeful ideals it can and often does stand for.

As I drove closer, I saw a banner strung across a large workshop building: “Patriot Partner.” It was at this moment that I wondered if the feelings I was having in any way aligned with the values and intentions of the people who displayed this epic symbol. Sadly, it took just a few seconds to dissuade me and to turn my feeling of pride into a feeling of disappointment and despair. The company, whoever and whatever they were, didn’t stop communicating through the symbols of flag and banner, but decorated their whole large property with other signs. Here is what some of them said:

Touch our stuff, and we’ll shoot your ass!

Support a Woman’s Right to Choose (to do what she’s told)

We Support Immigrant Rights (to get the hell out of our country)

Be happy, Be glad, Be jubilant, Be joyous, Be cheerful, Be merry, Be ecstatic, Just don’t be gay

Jesus died for our sins

WTF? What a mixed bag of opinions, biases, and notions! I am an old Baby Boomer, so I grew up in a time, place, and generation where patriotism was part and parcel of my upbringing and education. In my older adulthood I no longer pledge allegiance to anything but God, and I sing our National Anthem not as a statement of fact but as an appeal to our potential, but throughout my entire life I have been encouraged in big and small ways to be proud of these United States.

Politics in the 21st century has made this remarkably challenging. I felt that George W. Bush was inept and unsuited to the presidency (but was secretly glad that we could never possibly elect anyone worse…), that Barack Obama squandered such amazing potential and did the Democratic party irreparable harm through all the promises he failed to keep and acquiescing to corporate interests, then came the Trump/Biden/Trump Oreo cookie combo of navigating a pandemic paradigm shift in a vastly polarized and polarizing post-COVID culture. Not much to celebrate in the past decade of anti-leadership.

But still.

Were we – citizens, residents, friends, and foes of our United (?) States – to get our act together, to adopt true ethical values of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, mercy, justice, humility, compassion, empathy, fairness, forgiveness, acceptance, collaboration, safety and security, we could become light, salt, and the city on the hill. Yes, I realize I am using Christian references, but I am not talking about making the U.S. some poster child for Christian Nationalism. I am talking about elevating those Christian principles that align with and emulate the same high-minded and high-hearted values of just about every faith tradition on earth. Before Christians can claim proprietary rights to a Godly vision of goodness, we need to look at the Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Persian, Egyptian predecessors who claimed all these virtues centuries before Jesus walked the earth. We are smart enough to realize the differences between good and evil, love and hatred, kindness and cruelty, peace and violence, mercy and hostility.

We live in a world of mixed messages resulting in chaos, confusion, conflict, and contempt. We no longer seem to see differences as differences but as justification for anger, attack, violence, and hate. We turn human beings into faceless threats. We slap dehumanizing and belittling labels on anyone and everyone who disagrees with us. We hold in contempt “those people” regardless of who they might be, and we strain to find differences amidst the myriad similarities and hopes we hold in common.

I don’t know the story of the company who placed all their opinions on prominent display on their property, and, sadly, I really don’t feel like finding out. I am so tired of negative, mean-spirited, hostile, disrespectful, antagonistic, harmful and hurtful messaging, that I simply don’t care why anymore. What I do feel, what I do believe at the core of my being, is that those of us fortunate enough to realize God’s great love for us because “Jesus died for our sins,” should not be sowing the seeds of discord and disrespect, we should not use messaging to hurt or harm others, and we should be doing everything in our power to make our symbols – be they flag or cross – something that EVERYONE can be proud of.