Flag Day in Hudson - Father's Day at home.

By John Mason
HUDSON — Despite every piece of evidence to the contrary, some stalwart citizens refuse to be discouraged by current events and continue to uphold a belief that the American flag symbolizes the best in human nature.
     In his keynote address kicking off Saturday's Flag Day Parade,
sponsored by the Hudson Elks Lodge #787, Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R,C,I-Poughkeepsie, said the flag has "played witness to some of the most defining moments in the history of the world ... Beneath the bright and vivid colors of our banner, America has struggled to find its place in the world and fulfill the very promise it symbolizes.
     "When we confronted the unfinished business of America's declaration that `all men are created equal,' it was this flag that triumphed over slavery and indentured servitude," Molinaro said. "When women rose up to fight for their equality, this flag led the marches and protests. When the nations of the world found themselves in great struggle against tyranny and unspeakable atrocities, our flag helped to provide strength and comfort and victory to a world at war."
     To the oppressors of this world, the flag stands for "hope and
freedom and liberty," the assemblyman said. He linked the flag to the
civil rights struggle, to the nation's mourning for assassinated
leaders and its recovery from the Sept. 11 disasters.
     "Who will ever forget those firemen who, like the heroes of Iwo Jima, mustered the will and cobbled together the pole to hoist our American Flag above the ruins," he said. "Above the sadness, above the fear — and in one simple act, restored America's hope."
     But the flag "is not so proud as to demand unquestioned loyalty,"
Molinaro said. "Its very purpose acknowledges our right to question,
challenge and protest the very government it symbolizes."
     Its uniqueness, he said, "is found in the spirit of a free and
hopeful people who understand that we are flawed, yet strive to be
better."
     Quoting from former Secretary of the Interior Franklin Knight Lane, Molinaro said, "I (the flag) am whatever you make me, nothing more. I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may
become ... I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of a
resolution. I am no more than you believe me to be, and I am all that
you believe I can be. I am whatever you make of me, nothing more."
     "And may I add," Molinaro said, "nothing less."
     Elks Exalted Ruler Deb Minners said charity, justice, brotherly love
and fidelity are the four pillars of the Elks philosophy. John Minners gave a detailed history of the American flag, from its predecessors, the English flag, the pine flag and the snake flag, to its present form of 50 stars and 13 stripes, established in 1960.
     George Esposito said the "resurgence of patriotism since 9/11 has
rekindled respect for our star-spangled banner." He said the flag has
waved over the creation of democratic institutions and served as a beacon for refugees. He quoted Woodrow Wilson, who called the flag "an emblem of the unity, power, thought and purpose of our nation."
     "It has no other power than what we give it," Esposito said.
     The flag had quite a bit of power Saturday afternoon. The sidewalks
were packed with people from 3 p.m. on, standing or sitting in lawn
chairs or on curbs as the parade started up on Green Street and made
its way past the reviewing stand on Front Street and down past the
Amtrak station.
     Dennis and Kathleen Boyce of Kingston were among the first to set out their chairs, finding a spot about 12:30 p.m., two-and-a-half hours
before the parade was to step off, under the spreading tree in front
of the Trustco Bank.
     "We come up every year," Dennis said. "It's the best parade in the
Hudson Valley, with some of the big drum-and-bugle names. We travel around to drum-and-bugle contests. On Aug. 9, there's a contest in Kingston."
     They like the Hawthorne Caballeros and the New York Skyliners, both of whom were in Saturday's parade. They also recalled fondly
appearances by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Philadelphia Mummers.
     Nearby, Peggy Armstrong set up her chair under the same tree and
waited for her daughter, Caroline, who was still sleeping. They had
both been at the Relay for Life at Columbia-Greene Community College the night before, but Armstrong said she missed the parade last year, and was determined not miss it this year.