There has been a lot of emphasis on patriotism in the past few years, and with good reason.  The war on terror and the battles over immigration put patriotism and nationalism squarely into the forefront of American society.

This poem came to me during my customary walk to the bus stop on my way to work.  The morning sky was bright with no clouds in it, and I noticed the full moon had not yet set, so there it was, framed by a sea of blue sky.  Right away, I thought of that image and that of flowers...and received an important lesson: While we hold our colors very dear to our hearts, there is more to those colors than the fact that they adorn our flag; indeed, our every day lives are filled with red, white, and blue in more way than we can imagine.