Of parades proud and base

It was Independence Day, and could have been any small town in America's heartland.

Stores along Main Street were shuttered, that sunny and cloudless July 1 afternoon. Rousing marching band music filled the air. 

The uniformed players maintained a precise, lock step strut down the boulevard. 76 trombones blared. The bass drum pounded. Snares rat-a-tatted. "Star-Spangled Banner," the inspirational, thundering National Anthem, united every soul and lifted every heart. 

A blocks-long parade of citizens representing all walks of life rolled along. Gaudily decorated floats portrayed historic high points, military triumphs, workaday realities, and even local high school spiritedness.

The street was lined on both sides by citizens of all descriptions. They were practically bursting with pride in the country that had given its people so much, and that had raised high a lamp of liberty that inspired all who beheld it.

Bright American flags and vivid red, white, and blue bunting hung from every lamp post. They snapped smartly in the summery breeze, as if to do their part in the joyous, patriotic celebration.

Most citizens gathered that day had either lost loved ones in foreign wars, or knew families who had. Many had themselves served abroad. All were proud to have defended freedom. None would have had it any other way.

Now, calling out to friends, smiling men and women waved miniature replicas of Old Glory. Children darted about, laughing and playing among the buzzing crowd.

Consider now this current, Illinois case:

Orlando Gooden, a coach of pee wee football team the Cahokia Quarterback Club, chose to follow in a much lower parade. He recently had his 8 year-old players "take a knee," during a pre-game playing of our nation's National Anthem.

That an adult, who should know better, would inculcate in impressionable children hostility toward America is more than just disgusting. It constitutes rejection of the awesome responsibility given him to wisely guide young minds. And it encourages young Americans to wrongly consider themselves and their interests as distinct from the general country. 

National identity as Americans is those children's birthright. Effectively indoctrinating them to believe otherwise is theft of a preciousness irreplaceable.

Worse still, reports are that parents of children so mistreated by Gooden approve of his anti-American and faddish stupidity.

One hopes these victimized children will one day be able to throw off the coarsening effects of both that unpatriotic coach and their irresponsible parents.

And one reflects on those proud paraders. Hopefully, they can still march, somewhere in America...