By Juan Montoya
I ran into Lupe (El Polvo) Olvera at the Cameron County Courthouse as I headed for the Elections Office to cast my early vote for Kiko Rendon in the Texas Southmost College runoff election Tuesday.
Lupe - an active veterans' organization official with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion - was carrying a stack of motions and was headed for the judicial wing of the courthouse.
"Did you hear what (Brownsville Mayor Pat) Ahumada did during the Memorial Day ceremonies at Veterans' Park on Central?" he asked before I even had time to say hello.
"Oh, you mean wearing the Mexican flag patch on his shirt?" I asked.
"Yeah,' said Lupe, "Can you believe it? Me and the guys were just looking and wondering what he was doing wearing the flag during ceremonies that were being held to honor those veterans who died for this country, not for Mexico. A lot of the guys are really angry."
As a former Marine, I can empathize with Lupe and the vets. One of my nephews (also a former Marine) saw action in Somalia and rescued the diplomatic personnel from the embassy there, and another (Army, I'm afraid) has just returned from Afghanistan where he operated an IED detecting vehicle.
But for the love of me, I can't get worked up over the acccidental (if we are to believe Pat) wearing of a Mexican flag on one of his shirt sleeves. Pat is, after all, the city's representative and he said he had a function with Mexican officials after the ceremony.
Could he have worn something over the shirt? Perhaps. Could he have exercised more tact? Certainly.
But I also know that Pat at times can be pompous, arrogant and overbearing. Those are characteristics inherent in many politicians.
But my fellow vets miss a point. And that is that Pat has the freedom to act any way he wants to short of provoking a riot in a public palace, even one dedicated to the memory of local veterans. In fact, it was veterans fighting and dying in our nation's wars that guarantees him that right. Let me tell you a story (a short one, I promise).
In one of my previous lives as a news reporter, I used to work for a small newspaper in Worthington, Minnesota. This small town of about 13,000 population had (to the locals' credit) both an American Legion Hall and a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter.
One day the bartender at the VFW canteen, himself not a veteran, was trying to make points with the customers by loudly criticizing his sister who had participated in an anti-war rally in Minneapolis. He thought, of course, that he was preaching to the choir.
"I was embarrassed," he said loudly. "Those damn liberals want us to give up and come home."
But to his surprise, one of the vets spoke out and said:
"Good for her, she is exercising her right to protest against the government. That's one of the reasons that we went to fight those wars. Our soldiers are there to insure that the folks back home can exercise those rights, even if we don't agree with them."
There is a sign inside the Palm Lounge that goes something (not exactly) like this:
I ran into Lupe (El Polvo) Olvera at the Cameron County Courthouse as I headed for the Elections Office to cast my early vote for Kiko Rendon in the Texas Southmost College runoff election Tuesday.
Lupe - an active veterans' organization official with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion - was carrying a stack of motions and was headed for the judicial wing of the courthouse.
"Did you hear what (Brownsville Mayor Pat) Ahumada did during the Memorial Day ceremonies at Veterans' Park on Central?" he asked before I even had time to say hello.
"Oh, you mean wearing the Mexican flag patch on his shirt?" I asked.
"Yeah,' said Lupe, "Can you believe it? Me and the guys were just looking and wondering what he was doing wearing the flag during ceremonies that were being held to honor those veterans who died for this country, not for Mexico. A lot of the guys are really angry."
As a former Marine, I can empathize with Lupe and the vets. One of my nephews (also a former Marine) saw action in Somalia and rescued the diplomatic personnel from the embassy there, and another (Army, I'm afraid) has just returned from Afghanistan where he operated an IED detecting vehicle.
But for the love of me, I can't get worked up over the acccidental (if we are to believe Pat) wearing of a Mexican flag on one of his shirt sleeves. Pat is, after all, the city's representative and he said he had a function with Mexican officials after the ceremony.
Could he have worn something over the shirt? Perhaps. Could he have exercised more tact? Certainly.
But I also know that Pat at times can be pompous, arrogant and overbearing. Those are characteristics inherent in many politicians.
But my fellow vets miss a point. And that is that Pat has the freedom to act any way he wants to short of provoking a riot in a public palace, even one dedicated to the memory of local veterans. In fact, it was veterans fighting and dying in our nation's wars that guarantees him that right. Let me tell you a story (a short one, I promise).
In one of my previous lives as a news reporter, I used to work for a small newspaper in Worthington, Minnesota. This small town of about 13,000 population had (to the locals' credit) both an American Legion Hall and a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter.
One day the bartender at the VFW canteen, himself not a veteran, was trying to make points with the customers by loudly criticizing his sister who had participated in an anti-war rally in Minneapolis. He thought, of course, that he was preaching to the choir.
"I was embarrassed," he said loudly. "Those damn liberals want us to give up and come home."
But to his surprise, one of the vets spoke out and said:
"Good for her, she is exercising her right to protest against the government. That's one of the reasons that we went to fight those wars. Our soldiers are there to insure that the folks back home can exercise those rights, even if we don't agree with them."
There is a sign inside the Palm Lounge that goes something (not exactly) like this:
It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who gave us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who gave us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who gave us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who gave us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who gave us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It is the VETERAN, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."
There will always be tactless politicians who may inadvertently trample on the sentiments of others, but veterans can rest assured that the high principles and values that they went to war to defend are too resilient and too noble to be overshadowed by ephemeral figures in public office.
6 comments:
"Pat is, after all, the city's representative and he said he had a function with Mexican officials after the ceremony."
He told channel four he was going to a bike ride with his motorcycle club. Is his motorcycle club full of Mexican officials?
Let's focus on getting a Hospital. Not Mexican Flag Patches that may hurt your feelings. Last time I checked several of my Mexican Brothers had paid the ultimate sacrafice for OUR country. It was only after their death some politician said. Oh, by the way, here are your citizenship papers.
(Is his motorcycle club full of Mexican officials?)
If they are "officials" they're most probably in collusion with the drug cartels. And you can take that to the bank.
Ren.
Hey, Polvo, I guess you have lost you knick from the old days at the 4-21. Otherwise I am sure you would have beaten the sh-- out of Pat. Your Vietnam Pride must have been boiling inside of you as you saw this idiot show up at an American ceremony with a BS shirt with Mexican flags. If he was going to Mexico later, why didn't he take a shirt to change. Does he not know flag protocol? The US flag must always fly higher than any other flag when displayed in our country and another country's flag can not be displayed without displaying the US flag. But what does he know? He is only the mayor of Brownsville, so why should he know. Was he born in Mexico? I seem to remember reading something like that when he ran for mayor the first time. Maybe his ombilgo (belly-button) is still connected to Mexico. I actually feel sorry for him but wish I could figure him out. Why does he do those things?
(The flag must always fly higher than any other)
I recently went to Laredo and traveling on the expressway headed south (towards mexico) you will see two big assed Mexican flags waving from miles(literally) away. When you finally exit the expressway, right at the Port of Entry, you will see an extremely small U.S. flag waving from the customs office. Just goes to show you that when you "rule" you don't even have to compete with a country that is literally, one big joke.
Ren.
As long as the Mexican flag is on their side, they can fly whatever size they want, but like you say, no flag will ever compare to the red, white and blue. Remember the song we used to sing in elementary? "There are many flags in many lands; there are flags both old and new, but there is no flag however grand, like our own dear red, white and blue." Maybe we should make Pat sing it on Channel 12 before each city commission meeting until he learns to not wear clothes with Mexican flags. Also,Ren, have you noticed how some of our banks fly the most ragged flags in front of their establishment. Don't they have money to buy new flags each month? Where is our pride and what do we teach our children?
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