Holiday Jun 2007
Holidays
June 2007
Welcome to The Plaza Pages Newsletter San Angelo Texas
National Flag Day
Happy Father's Day
The thought for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. The idea of having the Father's Day came to the mind of Sonora Smart while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.
After the death of her mother, she along with her siblings was raised by her father, William Jackson Smart. Sonora wanted to tell her father how special he was. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.
The National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City in 1926. A Joint Resolution of Congress recognized the Father's day in 1956 and in 1966 President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. Thus, the Father's Day was born in memory and appreciation by a daughter who believed that her father and all other fathers should be honored with a special day.
What Makes a Dad?
God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it ... Dad
Author is unknown
Daddy's Hands by Holly Dunn,
I remember daddy's hands folded silently in prayer,
And reaching' out to hold me, when I had a nightmare,
You could read quite a story in the callous' and lines,
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind,
I remember daddy's hands how they held my mama tight,
And patted my back for something done right,
There are things that I'd forgotten that I loved about the man,
But I'll always remember the love in daddy's hands,
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was crying',
Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong,
Daddy's hands weren't always gentle but I've come to understand,
There was always love in daddy's hands.
I remember daddy's hands working' 'til they bled,
Sacrificed unselfishly just to keep us all fed,
If I could do things over, I'd live my life again.
Any man can be a Father, but it takes a special person to be called Dad.
Edited by Norman Bliss
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.Many understand the flag to represent the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights and perhaps most of all to be a symbol of individual and personal liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Through the Pledge of Allegiance and other political uses the flag has also come to be associated with U.S. nationalism, patriotism, and even militarism. The flag is a complex and contentious symbol, around which emotions run high.
In terms of the symbolism of the design itself, a book about the flag published by the Congress in 1977 states: "The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun." George Washington is credited for saying: "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty."
Many people also take the red and white to stand for the blood of those who gave their lives for freedom, and the presumed purity of the freedom ideal, respectively.
In the United States National Flag Day, is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
Sewing the first flag by Betsy Ross
According to what her family members said that she had told them, in June 1776, she received a visit from George Washington, George Ross and Robert Morris of the Continental Congress. She had met Washington through their mutual worship at Christ Church (and she had sewn buttons for him previously), and George Ross was John's uncle. The three men announced they were a "Committee of Three" and showed her a suggested design that was drawn up by Washington in pencil. The design had six-pointed stars, and Betsy, the family story goes, suggested five-pointed stars instead because she could make a five-pointed star in one snip. The flag was sewn by Betsy in her parlor. The flag was flown when the Declaration of Independence was read aloud at Independence Hall on July 8, 1776.
Edited by Norman Bliss
