I've recently started posting photos on the community weblog, "Photo Friday". It's a good exercise, having a theme provided that I normally wouldn't think of; and it challenges me as a photographer to not be so literal.

Struggling with the theme last week, "Neglect", I found myself taking photos of abandoned fast food restaurants, broken glass, junked out cars. I felt that I hadn't discovered the subtext within the image.

While washing my car (or, actually -- having my car washed for me), something caught my eye. The building of the car wash was lined with dozens of small, American flags, with the words "God Bless America" written across them, and poking out along the rain gutters. I took about four photos, from different angles, of a flag with my 35mm Canon GII. And then, I didn't give it any more thought.

Developing my photos that afternoon, something struck me as I saw the first photo from the car wash. The tattered flag, and the words. Then I thought about the theme again, "Neglect".

The image seemed sad to me.

I've lived overseas before (in New Zealand and Belgium), and I'm aware that the US is seen by many as an 800 lb gorilla. I understand the reasons behind some of those perceptions.

I also never fully appreciated my birthplace until I lived outside its borders.

I remember visiting a small village in southern Belgium with a friend, a few years ago, over Memorial Day weekend. A group of US soldiers, that had liberated my friend's village from the German's during WWII, had been invited back to be shown appreciation for what they had done.

The doors, and roofs, and shops in the village were lined with American flags, nearly identical to those at the car wash. And the soldiers, now much older, were touched deeply by this outpouring of thanks.

I look at the photo of the flag and I remember the village in Belgium. And I also think about the fact that the US is not always a benevolent presence in the world.

Neglect. God Bless America. The flag. What does it make you feel?

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