It seems like our language is always evolving. Common place words that we have used for years have now taken on new meanings. One of these is the word “triggered.” When I was growing up, the word “trigger” meant the little device on a gun that you pulled in order to make it shoot a bullet when you went hunting. Guns could have either single action or dual action on the “trigger” which meant you either could simply pull the trigger to fire or you had to pull back the hammer and then pull the trigger. Today, most guns are semi-automatic. That means that with a magazine, you pull the trigger and it automatically loads another bullet into the chamber so you can pull the trigger again. Also, when I was a lad, I remember listening to the stories of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger, as they appeared on both radio and television. That was pleasurable, because it took you back to the days of cowboys and Indians, good guys and bad guys, where Roy Rogers rode to the rescue on his horse, Trigger. Of course, it didn’t occur to our adolescent minds that there were probably several different horses over the years who appeared on the show as “Trigger,” just as there were several collies who served as Lassie over the years. Nonetheless, “trigger” was a good word.
Today, however, those on the looney left are “triggered” by words or sights that they deem offensive, even if those words or sights are inoffensive to everyone else, and in fact might actually conjure up in other minds feelings of love, nostalgia, freedom, and patriotism. There are a couple of items that seem to really “trigger” bad feelings on the left, becoming “micro-aggressions” (another new term used by the left to signify things they don’t like). These two items are the cross and the flag of the United States. To millions of Americans and others around the world, these two items signal good things.
The cross has been the symbol of Christianity since the day that Jesus was crucified. To the 1.2 billion Christians around the world, this is the revered symbol of their Faith, reminding them of the sacrifice of the Son of God to take away their sins, filling them with love, joy, and peace, even in the midst of trouble and persecution. And when Christians see the cross on a church building or on jewelry, it is reassurance to them that they are not alone in this world of strife and pain. But, according to many on the political left— agnostics, atheists, and many other Democrats—the cross triggers bad feelings because the cross represents Christianity which is antithetical to everything that they believe and promote, and they fear its power.
The excuse of many of the left, is that the propagation of Christianity in the U.S. breaks down the separation of Church and State, which they believe is written into the Constitution. However, that phrase does not appear in the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, nor in any of its amendments; in fact, it is not even inferred in the Constitution. The Constitution assumes that the Church and the State will march together amicably, but that the State is restrained from imposing a State religion upon U.S. citizens, even if that “religion” is atheism. A good example of that “triggering” is the huge cross that stands along I 70 at Effingham, Illinois, visible to everyone who drives that trans-continental interstate. Attempts to have it removed have come to naught since the cross stands on private land and in no way impedes the passing traffic.
We, on the other hand, have experienced the power and reassurance of seeing the cross on churches in every village as we have traveled in Europe, reminding us that there are Christians who share our beliefs in all parts of the world. From the teachings of Christ, comes the love and compassion for others that makes Christians the most giving people in the world. Christian missions teach, nurse, feed and build houses for the needy wherever they are found. I know of no atheist organization that does the same.
Lately it has been asserted that the American flag, the Stars and Stripes, is the symbol of systemic racism in America. This gained notoriety when a contributor to MSNBC claimed to be triggered by the sight of American flags on pickup trucks at a Memorial Day Parade on Long Island. This “birthing person” (name omitted to protect the stupid) said that all those American flags reminded her of how the country was founded upon racism. All of those driving the pickups and flying the flags, she knew must be red-neck racists. Many people in America, who are several chapters short of a book, have no doubt already bought into this “triggering” sensation, since not to do so loses them membership in the leftist club. Come July 4, our Independence Day, many people will sit at home, hiding from all of the racist flags and will avoid the fireworks displays since many of them will be red, white, and blue. I hesitate to give any credence to this supposed micro-aggression, but there are many people who find offense around every corner, especially if a conservative is around the corner.
But to millions of Americans and millions of others around the world, the Stars and Stripes represents hope and freedom. Under the American flag, the colonists defeated the then greatest nation in the world in order to gain their independence. Under the American flag, within less than a hundred years, those new Americans had banned slavery, an inhumane system that was forced upon them by Great Britain (who did not officially ban slavery until 1833) and that is still in practice in many countries in the world in 2021. Under the American flag, American soldiers went to the rescue of their European allies and ended in just over a year the trench warfare and wanton killing of WWI which had wiped out an entire generation of young men in Great Britain and France. Under that American flag again, the United States, after being attacked without a declaration of war by Japan, entered WWII and saved the world from the aggression and wanton murder of the Japanese and the systemic genocide of Nazi Germany, saving countless Jews and others from death in the extermination camps. Under the American flag, Americans have fought and died in other lands as well, protecting the security of our nation and attempting to bring peace and freedom to others in the world. The American flag represents freedom to people around the world, standing for the greatest nation the world has known. And to fly it and honor it is to show your recognition of what this country has given you and to demonstrate your thanksgiving and love.
To be “triggered” by either the cross or the flag shows a willful ignorance of the history of this country and an inconsiderate intolerance for those you do not agree with. Sometimes clichés are right: There is no cure for stupidity.