Monday, August 10, 2009

Flying the flag in the historic district


Here we have another restored house in Ocala's historic district near downtown. It is quite nice, and features the ubiquitous American flag. So many people think flying the flag indicates patriotism. Not necessarily. Anyone can fly a flag. Patriotism involves much more - summed up perhaps by commitment to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Often the biggest flag wavers lack that commitment.

32 comments:

James said...

That's a neat looking house. I like the flag too.

Don and Krise said...

Nice photo Jacob. Love the gingerbread on the old houses. Besides any house with a porch like that has my vote. I totally agree with you on patriotism too. I see the cars going down the road with a flag stuck out of every possible spot and I just have to shake my head. It's in the heart, not flapping on an antenna.

Sean said...

I love the patriotism in the US.... more countries should be proud of who they are!

Kcalpesh said...

That's a nice house to own :-) Great shot Jacob!

Olivier said...

j'aime bien cette architecture et ces maisons tout en bois. elle est très belle
I like well this architecture and these very wooden houses. it is very nice

Bergson said...

in France, we are always surprised by the presence of all these flags

VP said...

Beautiful house, perfectly restored. I have always liked the flags waving in front of your houses, even if you are probably right about this custom.

Small City Scenes said...

It is a neat looking house. I love to fly the flag. It makes me feel good. Some people think you should fly the flag only on special days. Well every day is a special day so I keep it flying every day. So that is my commitment. We live in a great country and I want everyone to know that. MB

Leif Hagen said...

A gorgeous, old, well restored beauty of a home! Reminds me of some older homes in St. Paul but they don't have PALM trees in the front yard in St. Paul.

B SQUARED said...

I wonder how many of our elected officials fly a flag at their homes?

Dan J. said...

I love this house. It is small town americana.... personified. Like something taken from "leave it to beaver" or "Father knows best", this house portrays a point in time we just do not see in today's age.

I feel like I want to go find a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade and sit on the porch swing and listen to Andy, Opey, Aunt May, Floyd the barber, Goober, and the whole gang tell stories.

This is wonderful Jacob. I really like this one.

airplane5312 said...

Love this old style houses, especially the porches. Most newer homes don't have any porches to speak of. So true on the flag.

Dianne said...

I feel the same way - and then there are those with all the support the troops ribbons and decals. I volunteer at the VFW and I have several soldier pen pals

any putz can wave something
true patriots do something

and there I go again

I love the tall windows and the porch

Lowell said...

@ Safe Leif - Are you sure about no palm trees in St. Paul? Sometimes the cold weather tends to addle people's brains...just checkin'!

Lowell said...

@ Dianne - But you are soooo right!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

A lovely house, very pretty.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Nice capture of it! :-D

Daryl said...

So true ... about the flag waving ...

Anonymous said...

It looks nicely restored!

Buenos Aires Photoblog said...

Such a wonderful old house! I love the porch but where is the swing?

I agree with you on the flag. Well, I guess it is simpler to do what all others do. No thinking required! So sad!

Unknown said...

Great porch and really nice architecture!

Frank said...

I appreciate and agree with your comment on flag-flying and patriotism. Thank you for stating it so well. (Where are all those flags that we saw flying post 911?)

Lois said...

I know what you mean about the flag waving! This is a marvelous old house. It reminds me of our historic district.

Judy said...

Wonderful old house. I love to see the how a house like this one is restored.
I agree with the commentary.

Halcyon said...

I love the old house too. And the flag looks nice in front of it.

cieldequimper said...

Interesting comment. As you probably know we don't do that kind of thing. This is certainly one of the nicest houses I have seen lately on my blogging travels. Though of course, I would have to fly several flags!

Lowell said...

@ Don and Krise - Amen!

crocrodyl said...

Very interesting house.

eamon@ewmphotography said...

Ah, now I know where the 'patriotism' thing came from in Sean's blog. I've left my thoughts about patriotism there. I'm not a fan of flag-wavers here, there or anywhere else. We should be talking about communities rather than allegiances to nations. Communities can stretch across the globe. Nations are about borders and exclusion. I'm neither a nationalist nor it's weaker cousin, a patriot. :)

Lowell said...

Okay, Eamon, but if all we have are communities, who will we be able to look down upon as inferior and go beat up when we feel like it?

Just kidding! You're right on target. And I think the future of the human race may just depend on our ability to get beyond borders and exclusion.

I'm not very hopeful!

EG CameraGirl said...

Very nice photo, Jacob. And I fear that your words may be true of people in every nation though a bit more obvious in the US because so many people do fly the stars and stripes from their homes. Thought provoking post.

Charlestonjoan said...

That house would fit in well here in Charleston.

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson