I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about flags lately, Rebel flags, rainbow flags, Isis flags, American flags and It seems to me that people are missing something very obvious.

All flags are offensive because every single flag stands for something. if your flag stands for anything, then it also has to be against the opposite of that thing. If your flag stands for your people, then it also stands in opposition of anyone who would harm your people. Otherwise, it’s not really a flag.

So the question is, can you design a flag that stands for your people,  without offending anyone else? I decided to give it a try. My flag is a gold plus sign on a green field. The green field stands for the peaceful green fields that is the only thing my people have ever wanted. The gold plus sign stands for everything we have added to the world and to civilization.

So who are the people this flag represents?

Anyone who goes to work and comes home and does it again the next day because that’s just what you’re supposed to do.

Anyone who pays their bills month after month, year after year.

Anyone who’s ever gone to a job they hated because feeding their kids was more important than feeling fulfilled. Anyone who’s gone without something they wanted because their family needed something.

Anyone who’s ever tried their best and failed or been beaten and got up and tried again and kept trying because it never occurred to them to give up or blame someone else for their problems. Anyone who understands that how the world treats you is far less important than how you react to that treatment.

Anyone who’s never fathered a child and abandoned it. I’m saying you had to be married but you had to be there. You had to pay your child support and you had to take responsibility. You can’t have left behind a string of kids with no one to teach them values because their father didn’t have any.

You taught your kids that education is important. You did something to make them understand that knowledge is the only real right you have because it’s the only thing no one can take away from you. Once you learn something, it’s yours.

You follow the rules. You do the right thing, not because  it’s in the Bible or it’s politically correct but because no matter how many times you fall short, you genuinely want to be a good person.

If your normal daily activity doesn’t include lying, cheating or stealing.

This isn’t a flag of white privilege or Christianity or liberalism or conservatism. I have known men and women of all races, creeds and orientation  who could fly this flag. And I’ve know people of all races, creeds and orientation who couldn’t.

If you’ve done these things, then no one will ever thank you for it. No one will call you a hero or give you a parade or care what happens to you. You’ll never get a holiday or a day off for being able to wave this flag. Because it’s nothing special.In fact, up until the last hundred years or so, it was just considered normal human behavior.

But if you’re one of the people this flag represents, you are the reason we have a civilization. And if you’re pissed off by this flag and the things it stands for, you’re part of the problem.