Tiny Grains of Sand Symbolizing Monumental Sacrifice
A few years ago, my brother-in-law, a Marine Colonel, had returned from active duty in Iraq. As he relocated to the east coast, he and my sister spent an evening with my family in St. Louis. Moments before they departed, he quietly handed me a triangle-shaped cardboard box. I knew it could contain only one thing, and I was right. It was a perfectly folded American flag inside a maple box.
But this was no ordinary flag. This flag had flown over Camp Fallujah on the fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001 and was accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. I was flooded with emotion and gratitude for such a poignant gift, but the image that remained seared in my memory was the tiny grains of sand that had sifted through the fibers and collected in the corners of the box.
Liberating the flag
Those tiny pebbles brought the American flag to life for me in a whole new way that evening. As he and my sister drove away, something wasn’t right. Then it dawned on me. The flag that represents freedom and liberty was itself confined in a dark, wooden box on exhibition behind a piece of glass. I felt the need to liberate that flag; to display its true glory.
As a designer, armed with this realization, I went straight to my workshop. It was nearly dawn when I emerged with what you see on this page: a flag and a case that is anything but somber and constricted. This new display case radiated “freedom.”
The flag was so precious to me that, at first, I locked it in a fire safe. But friends who glimpsed the flag were fascinated by the story surrounding it and encouraged me to display it.
A demand for more flag cases
Practically overnight, other friends began to notice my flag for the first time. They insisted I make more cases and offer them for sale, but I dismissed the idea because this flag had personal meaning to me and I was not keen on exploiting my reverence for the flag.
With time, it became clear to me that others loved the flag just as much as I did, and that maybe I was denying them a unique way to express it.
So in an effort to determine if there is a true desire for such a contemporary expression of patriotism, I am finally offering for sale the Living Patriot Prism flag display case containing a beautifully crafted American flag, made in the USA.
Flags for injured heroes
As part of the Living Patriot Initiative, for each Prism that is purchased, Living Patriot, LLC will ship an additional, smaller Prism to an active-duty serviceman or woman, beginning with the wounded heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan who are currently undergoing treatment at the U.S. Military Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
