Now, there is no argument about the United States being a living country -- it certainly is. But the flag itself -- a symbol made of strips and patches of dyed cloth being a living thing?
This is where I truly believe that we lose all sense of proportion when talking about nationalism or religionism. I have the same problem with people referring to a living Bible or a living Torah, or even a living Constitution. To be living, a thing must be able to exist independent of any other thing except for sustenance. It grows, it develops, it has dynamism -- an essential quality of an energy force -- what the Chinese call Qi; a soul and spirit that it alone possesses.
To say that a flag, or a book, or any symbol possess life is to say that it can exist without adherents or believers. It says that that object can act alone, of its own will and with sentience. Obviously a flag cannot do this and implanting such a notion, in my opinion, degrades the symbol to that of a mythical character such as the magical Celtic cauldron that knew when its possessor was hungry and would supply whatever food he desired.
But more than this, it elevates that symbol -- that which is to represent the ideals and values of that it stands for -- to a god-like status and makes it more important than those ideals and values. Whenever we hold up a symbol as the ideal itself, we forget that the more important aspect is what we believe and how we live that belief and when we deify the symbol, we end up worshiping the symbol instead of the belief itself.
This is the reason certain religions and sects within religions prohibit even the simplest of idols, graven images or representations of their deity. They recognize the fact that the image becomes the object of worship and veneration, and with that is lost the focus and purpose of the belief itself.
I would not deny anyone their respect for their flag or their religious symbols, but I do caution them that, when the symbol becomes the god, the god dies and is replaced by the symbol.
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