Yellow Ribbons

Yellow Ribbons...Traditionally tied around trees or worn in the hair to represent a loved one away in a war, are receiving a lot of negative press recently. In the town of Litchfield, the city council just recently decided to remove the years-old yellow ribbons tied around the oak trees in the town green. Citing potential damage to the tree and "unsightly" wear and tear, they cut down all the ribbons that have been displayed in the Green for 7 years. And by doing so, they started a war all their own.

The act of removing the ribbons absolutely infuriated townspeople, who immediately rushed off to get new yellow ribbons and tie them back up around the trees. Those ribbons were then once again cut down. So new one were erected...and cut down...and erected...and cut down.

I don't really want to take sides on this issue, but I think both groups of people are being absolutely moronic. A yellow ribbon is not going to damage an oak tree, and if it's unsightly then perhaps remove it and allow a new one to be left (untouched) in its place. And to the townspeople...maybe you would have better luck supporting the troops if you tied a ribbon on a tree in your own front yard. That way it can't be removed and you can sit and fawn over it as much as you want.

The point it, a yellow ribbon is a yellow ribbon. Yellow ribbons do not support war efforts, they merely represent one person's feelings of patriotism. If the aim of the ribbons is to actually support the war, then perhaps letters and care packages would be a better use of money then simply replacing every ribbon cut down by the city council. But if those who erect the ribbons don't even care about them enough to replace them when they get tattered and dirty, then I really don't see any TRUE support. I see a symbolic and meaningless gesture meant to make one feel good about oneself. It's ironic that those ribbons were left on the trees for years without so much as a second glance at their tattered and ratty bows until someone tried to *gasp* remove them.

So to the Litchfield city council...get over it. Find something important to spend time on, such as failing infrastructure or schools. Let them put up their new ribbons and leave it at that.

And to the people of Litchfield...find a more concrete way to support the troops. Use the money you would spend tying yellow ribbons all over the place and adopt a soldier. And if you see one of your ribbons is tattered, replace it. Don't only support the troops when it's "convenient" for you (like when you see your ribbons being cut down and feel the need to create drama)