DO IT RIGHT

When I was a very little girl, my father taught me a thing among many.  When you sing before the American Flag, you never take your eyes off of it. 

You sing, you learn and know the words, and you sing.  You put your hand over your heart and you don't take your eyes off of it.  You don't look around, you don't laugh, you don't talk, you don't twitter about. You stand there, with your hand over your heart and you sing the words the right way.  And you don't wear the flag.

Period.

When he was 19 he and his twin brother and his two other brothers went off to far away lands to fight a war.  He went to Germany and his twin brother went to France.  He came home to graduate from Texas Tech and his twin is still in France. 

In a cemetery.

Perhaps this is why he felt, and now I feel such a reverence for our flag and what our National Anthem stands for.  His National Anthem and his American flag represent great sacrifice...I can't imagine my father ever twittering about during the singing of it and I can't imagine his hand being anywhere other than placed over his heart.  That image remains strong in my mind.

I think this is a lesson worth keeping and passing on.