by David R. Darrow
7" x 5"
(17.78cm x 12.7cm)Oil on Panel
SOLD
Collection of Edward Leonard
Taunton, MA – USA
About This Painting
If you have been following my paintings for a while (at www.EverydayPaintings.com) you know that I paint whatever inspires me... whatever has caught my heart and mind for at least the period of time it takes to create a new work.
This 5th Anniversary of 9/11 has kept this particular anniversary on the forefront of my mind, more so than last year or the year before for some reason. I am grateful that we have been safe on our soil for much longer than anyone could have promised back in 2001. I am grateful to God and to the men and women whose job it is to ensure and provide security for our nation, and who fight for the cause of Freedom abroad.
I don't think people from other countries and cultures can fully understand what our flag means to so many people here in America.
Most of the people that I have met who are citizens of other countries speak very fondly, even proudly, of their land. And I think they understand that we are proud of ours, and much of the reverence for our flag is sometimes mistaken to be American arrogance. Yeah, we could be a humbler people. But I am still proud to be from and live in America, "warts and all," as we say.
When my wife and I visited Washington DC in October of 2001, a month after what quickly came to be known as 9/11, we made time to go to the Smithsonian Museum that houses "Old Glory." This tattered and stained flag is just plain huge, and it is staggering to see the reverence shown to this old relic. It's stored in a monstrous room with a custom, rolling gantry that allows conservators to hover inches above it to repair and maintain it.
A Bit of History
We have our 9/11 now, and much of America will be flying our flags: our symbol of Freedom, our country and our sovereignty. But there was a famous 9/13 that is significant as well. Just shy of 200 years ago, in 1814, there was a 35-year-old lawyer who boarded a docked British ship to see if he could negotiate the release of an American prisoner. Britain was our enemy back then. Though the ship he boarded was reportedly flying a truce flag, he was forcibly detained on board as the other British ships in that harbor began an all-night barrage of cannon balls and missiles at nearby Fort McHenry. All he could do was watch in horror, but with hope.
In the morning, September 14th, in the dim and smoky light of dawn he was able to see the American Flag — the very same "Old Glory" now being reverently cared for at the Smithsonian — still flying at Fort McHenry. It was beaten badly, scarred and torn, burned and frail, but "the flag was still there."
On September 20, just six days later, moved by the the events of September 14, in which the British had dropped their assault and turned tail, he wrote a poem heralding the memory. Four months later, the British signed the Treaty of Ghent, thus ending the war.
Ironically, the poem was eventually set to the tune of a British drinking song, and later became our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. The poet/lawyer was Francis Scott Key.
I have seen tears run down the cheeks of 90-year-old veterans at the raising of our flag and the playing of that anthem. For many of us, the flag means much more than far-too-many will ever know. It's not about the country as much as it is about Freedom.
Long may it wave.
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by David R. Darrow
9" x 6" (22.86cm x 15.24cm)
