No they don't. To many people it is the symbol of home and family and relatives who died miserable deaths buried in unknown graves, if at all...Many of those who fought were poor, ignorant, uneducated, diseased, developmentally delayed, country bumpkins or hill people, or people who immigrated into the wrong port. It would have to be decided by a case by case basis what someone understood the flag to mean..and some would be racist, and some would be segrationist, and some would be rebel, and some would be an expression of unexpressed grief..of things to terrible to talk about..of families run out of their homes..of barns burned down and livestock taken. Of sons and brothers and fathers who never came home. Of the stereotypical woman sitting for 50 years in her wedding dress, waiting for the handsome captain to come marry her.

I just have a song come to me very forcefully about a bunch of young women who decided to have a ball, with no dresses, with no ballroom, with no men to dance with.

Who are the bigots here? Who is talking about people they don't know as if they did know some very deep things about them..which may or may not be true.

We will never heal as a country or as a world until several things happen: the world forgives the Germans, at least the Germsns who did not create the mess, the northern US forgives the southern US, and the Irish forgive the English. Probably other situations as well.

Some of you are very obnoxiously sure of what you are saying but you do not know what is in the hearts of others. mg