Don't Offend the Illegals...

Like Secretary's Day (now Administrative Assistant's Day), and Grandparent's Day and even Mother's and Father's Day we commercialize non-events until we elevate them to sacredness. Once we celebrated George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. But we merged them into a non-descript President's Day and then submerged it as a school holiday below the significance of Martin Luther King Day.

There was an Armistice Day which became a more generic Veteran's Day and has now disappeared from recognition most everywhere but banks and Post Offices. Students certainly aren't aware that I have been able to discern.

But, if we can sell some greeting cards or flowers or candy or costumes or decorations, we will elevate even non-descript events to sacred holidays, which we must remember is a convolution of "holy days" in our language.

So with the Fifth of May. Cinco de Mayo is a time to sell Corona beer and Jose Cuervo, just as St. Patrick's day is for Guiness and Jameson's. Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday. It commemorates a battle in Mexico. It isn't Mexican Independence Day and it isn't nationally celebrated in Mexico. It is localized mostly around Puebla where the battle occurred between 4,000 Mexicans and 8,000 French. The Mexicans won. Beyond that it didn't have much impact on events for either Mexico or the USA.

What then to make of this:

American Flag Incendiary at School

Why should students in an American high school be offended by the image of the nation's flag? Why should the day matter in the slightest? Who suffers this deep insult? Are they not Americans as well?

Respect other cultures. The Mexican culture is a rich one laden with history, art, music, cuisine, tradition, dance and more. Their history is long and varied. It is worthy of study and consideration as well as ours. But, this is America and the fifth of May is not any more significant to America than any other day and actually less significant than quite a few. The belief that Americans, whether of Mexican heritage or any other background, would be offended by sighting of the flag is outrageous in an extreme.

A school which would support any student expressing insult by our flag is not one which should be supported by parents, teachers, the community or our tax dollars. Students who would find themselves offended need to be corrected, instructed, and encouraged to do a large measure of growing up.

Remember the Alamo, Goliad and San Jacinto. Forget about Puebla for a while.