Beyond Blog and Art - Patriots and Paradigm Shifts
Beneath the blogger, and past the artist, is the woman. And in many ways as I look at what I am today, I see who I was as a child. Like all of us, I'm an amalgamation of things I saw, opportunities I had, and who I learned from.
In July of some year in the mid nineteen-fifties I fashioned what I must have thought of as very Yankee Doodle-ish hats out of folded newspaper, decorated neighborhood bike spokes with red white and blue streamers, grabbed my baton and organized a parade for the neighborhood kids. For as long as I can remember, the summer holidays, with their wave of patriotism have been special to me.
Some of what makes me who I am is there on a cellular level. Most of my family genepool is rooted in
colonial America of the very early 1600s. Only one grandfather came later - and he from Thurles in County Tipperary
Ireland around 1900.
It was he
who taught me my earliest and most profound lessons about what it meant
to be a proud - and grateful - American.
It's not that the
other grandparents - those of the deep New England family trees - were not patriots. Through the generations each defended their country when need arose.
One, William Allison, was with the Mount Joy Militia in the Revolution. Another, Martin Gifford, carried his friend General Strong Vincent down from Little Round Top where he was mortally wounded in the battle of Gettysburg.
It's just that Grandpa Ryan -
with the thick brogue, ready tune to hum, black thorn walking stick and perpetually misplaced reading glasses - nearly glowed when he spoke of the opportunity that this country had
afforded his sister Mary Ryan Clair and her husband Jerry - and then he and two brothers who
followed them to Lake County Ohio. continue reading below -
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He proudly became the father of seven children. Three of these were sons who served in both Army and Navy in World War II. Against
this backdrop, when my son - his great-grandfather's namesake -
enlisted in the Air Force in 2000, it was only surprising
in that he was not a young man who exuded discipline and drive. But
shomehow - perhaps genes do speak - it fell to him to add the USAF to
the family service flags. He is a gifted athlete with a quick wit, a sharp mind and a courageous spirit. One
son amid a sea of sisters, he wanted to do something that would make a
difference and that would allow him to grow in ways he could not
visualize. His father had been a very young Army Lt. in
Viet Nam and left the service as a Captain. He had returned to school in
Washington DC in the mid seventies when our first two daughters were
preschoolers. As our children were growing up it was in
Virginai neighborhoods which were also home to multiple Military and
Defense Department families. One of our best July 4th celebrations was spent
watching the fireworks from the Pentagon's Potomac front terrace with those families. Before that day I understood as did my son that no matter
whether stationed in the states or in Europe, he would be deployed
elsewhere as needed. Then reality and commitment made an
immediate shift in my heart. I got a phone call from him as his base was safe and being locked down - but the smell of jet fuel was on the
wind from my front porch. I was minutes from the Pentagon. The world was upside down. My son was calling to check on
my safety. As this shift happened in the very fabric of reality, it also changed both my son and
I - and his sisters too in many ways. The globe somehow pivoted on its axis in a mainly unspoken but still palpable reality. The effects show today - in the level of our commitments,
in the depth and emotion behind our patriotism, in the steel of our convictions and in
our willingness to make hard choices and sacrifices. And all this happened with a
speed and in a manner that I don't think I could have imagined
beforehand - and that I will never be able to put words to.
That was before September 11 2001 - when everything changed. 
And it
is only now that I may in some small way understand a part of what this
country meant to my grandfather and how talking about it could move him
to tears.
On September 11
2001 we were probably a lot like many service families whose members were nowhere near the 'action.' But their
commitment to their country and to the jobs they took on are in many
ways identical to the young men and women who we honored this past Memorial Day weekend. We thank all the men and women who serve every day - not just
Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, and other times we're reminded of what
they do. And we thank the families who serve behind the scenes. Today the sixties' braless McGovernite and protestor in
water-buffalo sandals is a blue star mother. And a proud one.
After all, I am a grandmother myself now but I will always be Tim and
Mary Ryan's granddaughter.
The
difference? My son's life is
not marked today with an American flag placed on a grave.
The Blue Star Banner was first used during World War I. Some history of the banner can be found on the American Legion Website.
The Blue Star Service Banner was designed and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry who had two sons serving on the front line. It quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in the service.
On Sept. 24, 1917, an Ohio congressman read the following into the Congressional Record:
“…The mayor of Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce and the governor of Ohio have adopted this service flag. The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother - their children.”
The Blue Star Memorial Highways evolved from the tradition of the Blue Star Banner and the Blue Star Memorial Highways historical markers are tributes to Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America.
Other websites or blogs that might be helpful in learning more about Blue Star Banners include:
Directions for making a Blue Star Banner Quilt
Today we're leaking links to: Common Folk Freedom Watch America as Appeaser Cup of Euthanasia NIF RightWing Nation The Business of America the Wrong Wing Tor's Rants and History Mike Primary Elections
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