I gave a stranger a US Flag day before yesterday. And I'll probably do it again, soon.

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There's a great many flag poles and flags out in my particular neck of the woods.

I have a 24 footer with a good weather 4 X 6 ft US Flag. I have it lit up when it's dark... a photo cell transformer and two Autozone fog lamps... it's very nice at night. I'm working on getting a POW-MIA flag to fly with it.

I have one of those in my office, but it's too tattered to fly any more. I have the POW flag on the wall next to my framed "Reflections" poster, a gift from the American Legion for volunteer work.

I also wear POW Bracelets (I actually wear two... one on top of the other... an old one (at least a decade) and a newer one on top of it... for Harley Hall, the last POW in the Vietnam WAR, shot down on 27 Jan 73, last seen gathering up his 'chute. (Oddly, when I got the newer, painted bracelet, with Harley's picture and other info, I couldn't bring myself to take off the old one, so I put the new one over the top.)) and look forward to explaining what they are.

I'm very conscious about the condition of the flags that I see. They should not be tattered... dirty, holed or faded.

For quite some time, now, I've been driving past a flag pole with a flag on it that looks like it's been there for 20 years. Faded to where the red stripes were a light orange, tattered... altogether a sad specimen.

Well, this morning, the weather changed for the better. So, I took down my smaller, bad weather flag, and put up my 4 X 6. I was on my way to my Bronco, so I jumped in with my smaller 3 X 5 and left to go run some errands.

On the way back from my last stop, I saw that flag. Only this time, I also saw the guy who lived in the house doing yard work. So, I gave in to my impulse, and whipped my big ugly Bronco into his driveway.

I rolled the window down, he was looking at me, and I said, "Hey. I got a flag for ya."

If I had beamed down from the Enterprise, this guy couldn't have been more surprised.

"You've got a what?" he asked.

I told him, "I've got a flag, and I'm going to give it to you. For free. Here ya go."

And I hopped out, handed him the flag, and helped him put it up. (His lanyard was in bad shape as well, but he can handle that.) He told me that he had been looking for a replacement but had not been able to find one. It was fairly clear that he hadn't looked all that hard.

Still, it looked great going up his flag pole. The Flag still means something to me.

He handed me his worn out flag when I told him I'd see to it that the American Legion retired it.

I shook the hand of this stranger, jumped into my BUB (Big Ugly Bronco) and took off.

I still needed a bad weather (smaller) flag, so I set out to find one. The local Fred Meyers didn't have one. The local Home Depot didn't have one for a flag pole (with grommets) but Lowes had one... so I bought it.

The next time I see a worn out flag, I just might do it again.

And I hope those of you reading this do the same.

The new flag cost me $20. But the feeling I get when I drive by it is worth every penny.

Being an American matters. I thank God every day I was born here instead of anywhere else. And replacing worn out flags is a small way to show it.