Page 4 — Thursday, October 7, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Have you met?
Do you remember?
Did you see?
Does our American Flag
need a redesign?
In this divisive time, as we witness the
tearing down of monuments, the defacing
of statues, and the rewriting of history
books, I suppose it’s only inevitable that
the American flag now becomes part of
the national tumult.
A New York Times columnist recently
suggested that we “reimagine” what the
American flag should look like, suggest-
ing that an “update” reflect the divisions
and decline we’ve become so obsessed
with in our country.
One suggested redesign displays a flag
split into four rectangles. One square con-
sists of red and white stripes while the
other three are solid blue, yellow and
green rectangles. According to artist
Andrew Kuo, the red stripes represent the
past, the white stripes represent the future,
and the solid colors “untapped potential,”
“repairing systemic racism,” and “taking
care of our planet.”
Another design titled: “Lift Every Voice
and Sing” brings other flags like the
American Revolution’s “Don’t Tread on
Me” flag and the “Black Lives Matter”
social movement flag into one, while yet
another rendering is a monochrome gray
design with stars that “represent America
surrendering to its fall from power and
loss of the ideas it once stood for.”
Respectful as I am of the opinions and
the personal patriotism of others, my big-
gest objection to this whole discussion is
that it, like so much rhetoric today, focuses
on America’s mistakes, its failings rather
than on what we stand for as a nation and
a celebration of our greatest achievements.
Any good leader would remind us to not
look back, learn from mistakes and move
on to better and brighter times.
The idea that our flag needs a makeover
to respond to the political issues of the day
is frightening, to say the least.
The divisions we’ve allowed ourselves
to be part of today have been largely polit-
ically created. Our two major parties have
failed to inspire Americans to work togeth-
er in the best interests of all Americans.
Plus, a growing number of special-interest
groups are pushing for a change from what
we stand for as a democracy and a capital-
ist country to a more socialist nation.
America is all about freedom, liberty,
justice, love of country and our national
purpose. That’s what the American flag
represents. For more than 225 years, it has
been a symbol of our way of life, our
beliefs, and the freedoms we fought for.
We stand proud as we fly the flag of our
nation.
The whole idea makes you wonder if
Americans really believe in free speech
and the ability to hold opinions that others
don’t share.
I can remember a time when you might
not have agreed with someone, but you
understood the importance of tolerating
his or her opinion.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will
defend to the death your right to say it,”
said the French writer and philosopher
Voltaire.
What would Francis Scott Key think of
a redesign of our great flag? He penned
the poem that became “The Star-Spangled
Banner” in 1814 while witnessing the
British bombardment of Fort. McHenry as
part of the War of 1812. Key was inspired
by the sight of that lone U.S. flag still fly-
ing over the Maryland harbor at daybreak,
reflected in the now-famous words of our
national anthem:
“O, say can you see, by the dawn’s
early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twi-
light’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so
gallantly streaming.
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs
bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our
flag was still there.
O, say does that star-spangled banneryet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home
of the brave?”
The flag represents all Americans, our
freedoms, our dignity and what we stand
for. It’s been with us through countless
wars, sad times, and threats to our well-be-
ing. But it also flies in times of celebration
and triumph.
The stripes represent the original 13
colonies and the stars represent the 50
states of the Union. The color of the flag is
symbolic as well: red symbolizes hardi-
ness and valor, white symbolizes purity
and innocence, and the blue represents
vigilance, perseverance and justice. The
flag represents a message of freedom and
of men and women who were willing to
give their lives for their convictions and
love of country.
Since the founding of the United States
in 1776, there have been 27 different ver-
sions of the flag featuring the stars and
stripes.
But each new flag represented the addi-
tion of one or more states as our country
grew, not the political banter of the day. At
no time has there been any serious conver-
sation about redesigning the flag to make
it more popular or to represent a place in
time that we found ourselves as a nation.
There’s been a lot of discussion about
America’s history, though, with some of it
now becoming increasingly self-critical of
our past. We’ve allowed revisionist histo-
rians to convert our heroes into criminals
and our history into lies and our pride into
apologies.
Our Founding Fathers knew that our
democracy would last only if we allow our
citizens to speak, publish, worship and
organize without interference. And the
flag has become a symbol of those convic-
tions.
“America will never be destroyed from
the outside,” President Abraham Lincoln
said. “If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed our-
selves.”
Lincoln was concerned about the divi-
sions the nation was facing and he stood
strong on the dangers of secession by
some of the states because he knew that
would drive a wedge into this young
nation.
Yet here we are, more than 200 years
later, and some still want to highlight our
differences, not the love of liberty that we
share.
As Americans we should stand strong,
defiant and proud of Old Glory because it
always has symbolized the qualities that
make our nation great.
I found a message recently by an
unknown author who may have put it best:
Our Own Red, White and Blue
There are many flags in many lands,
There are flags of many hue.
But there is no flag however grand,
like our own red, white and blue.
Say hurrah for our flag,
Our country’s flag, its stripes and its
bright stars.
But there is no flag however grand,
Like our own red, white and blue.
I hope we’ve heard the last of any ideas
to redesign our great flag.
Most Americans still fly it proudly
because they realize the luxury and the
privilege of living in the greatest nation
ever imagined.The Hastings Banner
Devoted to the interests of Barry County since 1856
Published by... Hastings Banner, Inc.
A Division of J-Ad Graphics Inc.
1351 N. M-43 Highway • Phone: (269) 945-9554 • Fax: (269) 945-
News and press releases: [email protected] • Advertising: [email protected]Frederic Jacobs
Publisher & CEOHank Schuuring
CFO- ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT •
Classified ads accepted Monday through Friday,
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Scott Ommen
Mike GilmoreTy Greenfield
Jennie Yonker- NEWSROOM •
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Kathy Maurer (Copy Editor)
Brett Bremer (Sports Editor)
Greg Chandler
Benjamin Simon Taylor OwensSubscription Rates: $52 per year in Barry County
$60 per year in adjoining counties
$65 per year elsewherePOSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
P.O. Box 188
Hastings, MI 49058-
Second Class Postage Paid
at Hastings, MI 49058A sign
of the times
Notice something new on the lot at 128
N. Michigan Avenue? For years, the prop-
erty across from Hastings City Hall has
sat empty. That is no longer the case. On
Sept. 15, the City of Hastings officially
sold the land to Michigan Avenue, LLC,
also known as AJ Veneklasen, a Grand
Rapids-based developer. Construction
will begin in the next 60 days and, around
this time next year, a building will provide
21 market-rate apartments and retail
space downtown. The building is expect-
ed to provide 2,630 square feet of office
space on the ground floor.1961 queen announced before homecoming
Banner Oct. 5, 1961
Homecoming queen and her court – Framed in the Johnson Field goal posts, these Hastings High co-eds were photo-
graphed Monday after they were elected to reign over the 1961 HHS homecoming festivities. The homecoming queen is Kaye
James (center), senior, daughter of Mr. an Mrs. Williams James, 233 Charles St. Members of her court will be (from left) Ann
Clarey, sophomore, daughter of athletic director and Mrs. John Clarey, 521 W. Green St.; Jan Pontz, junior, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Richard Pontz, 425 S. Jefferson; Miss James; Cheryl Johnson, senior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Orris Johnson, 430
S. Young St.; and Joan Taffee, a junior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Taffee, 502 W. Colfax.Abby Barton carries a snare pad in her
car. As a junior at Hastings High School,
she’s busy – busy with marching band and
classes and bowling and thinking about
college. But whenever she has a down
moment, she tries to spend it tapping away
at the snare pad and working on her double
strokes.
Barton, 16, clarifies that she doesn’t
practice while driving, only when she’s
parked or waiting in a drive-through. When
she pulls up to the pick-up window at
Biggby Coffee, she likely will have a snare
pad in her lap.
She said doesn’t come from a musically
inclined family. When she thinks back to
her childhood, she doesn’t think of music:
She thinks of fishing. That’s why her par-
ents, Hollie and Chris Barton, moved to
Thornapple Lake in the first place. Her
father wanted to fish, and the lake had a
whole lot of muskies.
“He bought his first boat before he
bought a first car,” Barton said.
Barton grew up joining her father and
younger brother, Andrew, on fishing trips,
but she never found herself particularly
drawn to the act of fishing. Instead, she
would bring a coloring book to keep herself
occupied.
“If you’re fishing, you’re, like, throwing
in a big heavy thing and then you just wait,”
she said.
That’s why she found herself so drawn to
drums, where there’s constant movement,
noise and energy.
“Drums are just cool. They’re big,
they’re loud, you get to hit things,” she
said.
Barton started with the clarinet before
switching to percussion midway through
sixth grade. She hasn’t stopped, playing
anything from the drums to the xylophone
to the marimba.
These days, she spends more than 10
hours a week on band, where she serves as
leader of the pit section – the forward section
of percussion that includes marimbas and
other less drum-like instruments. The com-
mitment includes one-hour morning practic-
es every day, a three-hour evening rehearsal
once a week and football games and march-
ing competitions throughout the fall.
Barton doesn’t plan to stop playing an
instrument after high school. She said shehopes to join her college band and, just this
week, she tried out for an indoor marching
band called Genesis.
But Barton also knows that, one day,
marching band will end. And she seems OK
with that.
“I’ll definitely still have my drum pads
with me because that’s just who I am,” she
said. “That’s something that I do all the
time. It’s a really good stress-reliever.”
Ask Barton what she intends to study in
college and she responds almost instantly:
“I plan on majoring in accounting with a
minor in business management with an
emphasis in finance.” She comes from a
family of accountants. Her father, her two
uncles, their wives – are all accountants.
“Doing people’s taxes, I don’t know, it
just sounds interesting,” she said. “... A lot
of people will be like, ‘You want to be an
accountant? Like, that’s not something that
normal people want to do.’ ... I feel like if
I can do something that makes sense, and I
can be helpful to others while doing it, then
it’ll really make an impact.”
She’s taking two math classes this semes-
ter – AP statistics and pre-calculus.
“I love math,” she said. “Math is my
favorite thing. Math is my favorite subject.
“... I do not like history or English that
much. Math and science are my thingbecause, in math, 99 percent of the time,
there’s one answer. And if you get to that
one answer, then you are either right or
you’re wrong.”
In between math classes and band prac-
tice, Barton sneaks in trips to Hastings
Bowl. A friend introduced her to bowling in
middle school. Not long after, she knocked
down four strikes en route to a 163 out of
300 score and decided to stick with bowling
throughout high school, finding herself
drawn to the mechanical nature of the sport- just like math.
“You do the same thing over and over
again; it’s very repetitive,” she said. “You
throw the ball down the same way. You let
go of it the same way – every single time.”
As a member of the Hastings bowling
team last school year, Barton finished
fourth out of at least 100 girls at Regionals
to earn a spot at the state tournament.
For her role with the Hastings High
School band and bowling team, Abby
Barton is this week’s Bright Light:
Favorite TV program: “Criminal
Minds” and “Manifest.”
Favorite vacation destination: France,
specifically southern France.
Favorite season: Fall because the leaves
are pretty colors, and it’s a perfect tempera-
ture outside – not too cold, not too hot.
Something on my bucket list: To com-
plete a 46,000-piece puzzle of the major
cities in the world.
Plans after high school: Going to col-
lege and getting a degree in accounting as
well as my Certified Public Accountant
certification and master of business admin-
istration degree.
Best advice ever received: Strive for
progress, not perfection. Nobody is ever
going to be perfect. The key is how you grow
as a person and overcome imperfections.
Hobbies: Crocheting, making string
bracelets, doing puzzles and playing with
my dog Coco.
Each week, the Banner profiles a person
who makes the community shine. Do you
know someone who should be featured
because of volunteer work, fun-loving per-
sonality, for the stories he or she has to tell
or any other reason? Send information to
Newsroom, Hastings Banner, 1351 N. M-
Highway, Hastings, MI 49058; or email
[email protected].
Fred Jacobs, CEO
J-Ad Graphics, Inc.Abby Barton