Rev. Terry Jones

A couple of decades ago (man, I am getting old), I remember watching the Cubs game (which was unusual for me, because I am a Sox fan), when I saw a couple of hippies run out onto Dodger’s Stadium (where they were playing)  and attempt to set fire to an American flag.  Rick Monday, the Cubs center-fielder, swooped in the snatch the flag from the rabble-rousers, saving the day and America’s honor.

At the time, America was down in the dumps.  It was 1976, and while we were celebrating America’s Bicentennial, we were also dealing with the aftermath of Watergate, Viet Nam, and the start of a stalling economy beset by both high inflation and creeping unemployment.  When Monday saved the symbol of American freedom, it was a special moment, perhaps a turning point in the American psyche.  Monday was quoted saying once, “If you are going to burn the flag, don’t burn it around me.”  It was a great quote, because the Cubs center-fielder acknowledged that while in America, people have the right to do stupid things like the burn the flag, citizens also have the right to oppose them.