Eagle and Flag

The president announced that the bald eagle had returned from the brink of extinction (July 3). This bird is a symbol of the U.S. No less a symbol is our flag. Some of our citizens state that burning the flag is guaranteed under the 1st Amendment by calling this act a matter of “free speech.” Others proclaim any desecration of the flag only involves a “piece of cloth.”

I fail to understand the difference between the symbolic bird and our symbolic cloth, as far as not offering protection to both. One of the most reproduced photographs from World War II is the flag raising at Iwo Jima. This would indicate a national pride in our “piece of cloth.”

AKSEL G. PEDERSEN

Sierra Madre