Fifty states. You can be a Texan, a Connecticutensian, or a cheese head. The American Flag represents our ability to change and grow from our heritage.

The thirteen stripes on the flag have roots as old as the country itself, but their meaning extends beyond those thirteen in 1607. Six in white show the country's attempt to be pure. Our nation always struggles being pure human beings through times of slavery and foreign scares. But the American flag shows our aim for higher standards of humanity that all shall maintain equal privileges under the stars and stripes. With our downfalls comes bloodshed. Weather on our soil or past the seas, we are constantly stricken by pain. As a constant reminder, those six white ribbons are encapsulated by our pain and suffrage in seven red streaks. Not only do the thirteen bars on the American flag represent our past, they represent what we strive for in a future with the knowledge that we will have shortcomings and hardship.

The blue seen on Old Glory is the sea with 50 whitecaps fiercely rolling forward to  represents the settlers and immigrants who come across the sea to find hope in the fifty states. The flagmakers could have opted for one large star to symbolize the unity of the nation, but instead there are 50 individual stars. Each state gets its own star because each state has its own identity. With this identity, states are allowed to govern their people as they see fit. On the other hand, the 50 stars are enveloped in a patch of blue--showing these individuals have the ability to work together and create one country--united.

Under the American flag we are more than just one country. We are fifty states from thirteen colonies from all around the world. So, being represented by the American flag means that it doesn’t matter whether you are a Buckeye, Muslim, or Wisconsinite. We all sacrifice for the good of humanity and have the right to be different. That is what it means to be under the reign of the red, white and blue.