Flag Day — What We Carry Forward

Today is Flag Day in the United States — June 14th, the anniversary of the adoption of the flag in 1777. It’s not a federal holiday, but it’s a day that asks a useful question: what are the things we carry forward? Not uncritically, not without examination — but with some genuine thought about what’s worth preserving and passing on.

I think about this in the context of kindness, which is what I think about most things in the context of. What practices of care and attention have been handed down to you — from family, from community, from people who came before you in ways you may not even know? And what are you adding to that? What are you carrying forward to whoever comes next?

The porch light my grandmother kept on came from somewhere. Someone taught her that, or someone showed her without knowing they were showing her. We inherit the light as much as we create it.

We inherit the light as much as we create it. What are you carrying forward?

What’s a value or practice of kindness that was handed down to you that you’re still carrying?