Hubby and I put a 17' flag pole up today, proudly flying the American flag ...
A major witness no no.....lol
This caused me to remember my first "incident" with a flag and JWs...
I had just gotten back from Oklahoma, after my first husband had died... he was in the AF when this happened, so had a Military funeral. They gave me the American flag, as is customary in such situations.
I had resumed my studies again...
My study conductor was on the subject of patriotism and asked if I had anything with the flag on it, I told her about the flag the AF had given me. She "Freaked" and told me that I had to get rid of it "pronto"...
She wanted me to burn it, I totally refused, for one thing, it represented something important to me besides my country.
She kept harping on it week after week. With the frame of mind I was in at the time, I told her I would give it away, but not burn it. That wasn't good enough, she didn't want me to be "Blood Guilty"...
She told me that we would have to cut it up and dispose of it in the trash. Finally she wore me down, as they have a way of doing, when you aren't thinking straight.
This was a very large flag, so there we sat, both of us with scissors cutting this beautiful flag into approx. 3" squares. I remember crying as we did it...wondering if this was even legal..???
I look back on that now and it makes me sick to my stomach, such major "BullS**t", and a loss of something that I can never replace. That incident still saddens me to this day, if I allow myself to think on it...
Just wanted to share that, and show another example of ... JW "Extremism"...
Cas