Flag Group Program

 

Materials:

 Bag of red paper

 Bag of blue paper

 Bag of white paper

 Some glitter or stars

 A large pot and a large spoon

 An American Flag

 

Ceremony

1. We are going to fix for you, a treat that is really grand. 

 

2. And make for you a recipe... the greatest in the land.

 

3. First we'll put in a heaping cup of red courage (add red paper bit to pot)

 

4. And then we will add for loyalty, a dash of heavenly blue. (add blue paper to pot)

 

5. For purity, we will now sift in a layer of snowy white, (sprinkle in white paper bits)

 

6. We will sprinkle in a pinch of stars to make it come out right. (add stars or glitter)

 

7. We will stir and stir and then you will see, what we have made is, (use spoon and pretend to stir the contents, but don't disturb the flag)

 

(ALL) Old Glory!

 

 # 8 and 9 (reach into the pot and pull out the American Flag

 

(ALL) Our flag is the most beautiful in the world. Let us always be loyal to it!

 

Flag Makers Good for a Program

FLAG MAKERS
FRANKLIN K. LANE

From an address delivered by Franklin K. Lane, then Secretary of the Interior, before more than 1,000 employees of the Department of the Interior on Flag Day, June 14, 1914.

This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, the Flag dropped me a most cordial salutation, and from its rippling folds I heard it say: 'Good morning, Mr Flag Maker'

'I beg your pardon, Old Glory,' I said. 'Aren't you mistaken? I am not the President of the United States, nor a member of Congress, nor even a general in the Army. I am only a government clerk.'

'I greet you again, Mr Flag Maker.' replied the cheerful voice. 'I know you well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of yesterday, straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or perhaps you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or helped to clear that patent for a hopeful inventor in New York, or pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming. No matter: whatever one of these beneficent individuals you happen to be, I give you greeting. Mr Flag Maker'

I was about to pass on, when the Flag stopped me with these words:

'Yesterday the President spoke a word that made happier the future of ten million peons in Mexico; but that act looms no larger on the Flag than the struggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn Club prize this summer.

'Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of Alaska; but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the Flag.

'Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yesterday, maybe a schoolteacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our race. We are all making the Flag.'

'But,' I said impatiently, 'these people were only working!'

Then came a great shout from the Flag:

'The work that we do is the making of the Flag. 'I am not the Flag; not at all. I am but its shadow.'

'I am whatever you make me, nothing more.'

'I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.'

'I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks and tired muscles.'

'Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, fitting the rails together truly.'

'Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I play the coward.'

'Sometimes I am loud, garish and full of ego that blasts judgment.'

'But always, I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try for.'

'I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.'

'I am the day's work of the weakest man and the largest dream of the most daring.'

'I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and state-maker, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and sweep, cook, counselor and clerk.'

'I am the battle of yesterday and the mistake of tomorrow.'

'I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.'

'I am the clutch of an idea and the reasoned purpose of resolution.'

'I am no more than what you believe me to be and I am all that you believe I can be.'

'I am what you make me; nothing more.'

'I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this nation. My stars and my stripes are your dreams and your labors. They are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because you have made them so out of your hearts; for you are the makers of the Flag, and it is well that you glory in the making.'

 

A Marine... A BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE..

        Just Stay...
        

        A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
       
        "Your son is here," she said to the old man.
       
        She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
       
       
        Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
       
       
        The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.  Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
        He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
        Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
       
       
        Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
       
       
        Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
       
       
        "Who was that man?" he asked.
       
        The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
       
        "No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
       
       
        "Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
       
       
        "I knew right away there had been a mistake,
        but I also knew he needed his son, and his
        son just wasn't here.
       
        When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."
        I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey.
        His son was Killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this Gentleman's Name?
       
        The Nurse with Tears in
            Her Eyes Answered,
            Mr. William Grey.............