Do you put your hand over your heart during the National Anthem?

[CajunBlazer]

113. Really?

Actually it is neither silly nor futile and the manner in which proper respect should be shown to the flag is actually encoded into US law.

I refer you to the document The United States Flag: Federal Law Relating to Display and Associated Questions prepared for Congress by the Congressional Research Committee. From the opening paragraph of the document, "This report presents, verbatim, the United States “Flag Code” as found in Title 4 of the United States Code and the section of Title 36...."

Here is the link: http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30243.pdf

The following is the section in question:

(b) Conduct During Playing. — During a rendition of the national anthem —

(1) when the flag is displayed —

(A) all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart;

(B) men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and

(C) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note.

(2) When the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.

Now no one is going to prosecute you if you don't follow the law. That would be unlikely in any event, but I would think that the Supreme Court judgement in Texas v. Johnson, (1989), in which the court ruled that burning the American flag is considered free speech under the Constitution set a precedent in such matters.

You say that putting your hand over your heart during the national anthem is "silly and futile symbolism", but wouldn't you put standing up during the national anthem in the same category? After all we stand during the national anthem for the same reason we put our hands over our hearts, to show respect. I just made a private bet with myself that most people like you stand just like everyone else because they don't want to call attention to themselves by being the only ones who remained sitting. But they figure they can get away with their little private protest of doing nothing with their hands without calling attention to themselves because they think no one will think that particularly odd.

I didn't write that to put you or anyone else down, but only to point out that we human beings are social animals who naturally form into groups both big and small from simple families of our own choosing, to neighborhoods, towns and city, states and sovereign nations. In a larger it sense it is clear that we all also belong to a larger world wide community. That said it is expected of individuals who are members of a group to respect its customs even if we personally find them "a bit silly". That why we all feel a need to stand up of during a national anthem, even that of another country. That's why we should also place our hands over out hearts when our anthem is played.

I think it is rude not to do so, but hey, our country gives rights to non conformists, so you can certainly as you see fit. However, if you have a conscientious objection to respecting the flag and/or the national anthem, perhaps you should remain sitting as well.