The Anchoress links to this beautiful story about the day–exactly 30 years ago yesterday–that Chicago Cubs center-fielder Rick Monday saved the American flag from being burned by a pair of hippies during a game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Here are some of Monday’s own recollections:
“When these two guys ran on the field, something wasn’t right. And it wasn’t right from the standpoint that one of them had something cradled under his arm. It turned out to be an American flag. They came from the left-field corner, went past [Cubs left-fielder Jose] Cardenal to shallow left-center field.
“That’s when I saw the flag. They unfurled it as if it was a picnic blanket. They knelt beside it, not to pay homage but to harm it as one of the guys was pulling out of his pocket somewhere a big can of lighter fluid. He began to douse it.
“What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976. In my mind, it’s wrong now, in 2006. It’s the way I was raised. My thoughts were reinforced with my six years in the Marine Corp Reserves. It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented.
“So I started to run after them. To this day, I couldn’t tell you what was running through my mind except I was mad, I was angry and it was wrong for a lot of reasons….
“Doug Rau, a left-handed pitcher for the Dodgers at the time, came out of the dugout and I handed the flag to him. The two guys were led off the field through the Dodger bullpen.
“After the guys left, there was a buzz in the stands, people being aghast with what had taken place. Without being prompted, and I don’t know where it started, but people began to sing ‘God Bless America.’ When I reflect back upon it now, I still get goose bumps.”
The left today is under the impression that 30 or 40 years ago it started a revolution. And yes, that’s exactly what happened. There was a revolution in America–to the right, as millions of people became increasingly fed up with antics like those described above and the small-minded hatred for our country that they stood for. That year, 1976, was the year that Ronald Reagan began to assert himself as a presidential candidate. Four years later, he won the election. We have those two hairy gents who tried to desecrate our flag in Dodger Stadium and thousands like them to thank. Their ilk is still around (check this photo on Michelle Malkin). Thanks, left-wingers–we need you.