The Answer is Blowin' In the Wind

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens…” (Genesis 11:4 NIV)

Acuity is the name of a large insurance company that has its corporate headquarters here in Sheboygan. They used to be called Heritage Insurance, but changed their name because the old name was boring and actually said what the company did. I like to mock Acuity, (more than I should probably), for its trendy yet meaningless name and for its grandiose, cathedralesque office.

Then there’s the flagpole.

After the attacks of 9/11 in 2001, Acuity decided to raise the height of the company flagpole, located on the grounds of their corporate headquarters, as a symbol of their patriotism and support for our country. Unfortunately, Acuity is located on the edge of town in an area with high winds. The 150-foot pole blew down and almost toppled onto I-43.

The company seemed to take this as a challenge, because they contracted with a Texas company to build an even bigger flagpole; one 338 feet high and 6 feet across at its base. The flag it flies is almost as long as the old flagpole was high, measuring 120x60 feet. Each star on the flag is 3 feet wide and each stripe 4 ½ feet wide. It looms over the western part of the city; and because of the sheer size of the thing, its flag seems to be rippling in slow motion as it floats in the wind. The motorized hoist used to raise the flag is synchronized so that the flag reaches the top precisely at the end of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Quite simply, it is the tallest flagpole in the United States.

One day last summer, while I was driving down I-43, I noticed a couple large cranes next to the flagpole. I figured they were replacing the lightbulbs on the airplane beacon on top of the pole. (At least I assume it’s a beacon; the blessed thing’s so large it could very well be a rotating restaurant). The next day, the entire pole was gone. “Omigosh!” I thought; “THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON!!! The flag no longer is there! Who will break the news to Francis Scott Key???”

Well, it turned out that Nancy Pelosi had not banned all flagpoles higher than Godzilla’s inseam after all. Apparently Acuity discovered that their new pole, designed by a Texas company, was not built to withstand the extremes in temperature found in a Wisconsin winter. So they dismantled the flagpole intending to rebuild it a little sturdier, and placing it a little bit farther from the Interstate, (just in case).

All through the winter and much of the spring, the skies overlooking I-43 and South Taylor Drive have been vacant and the wide stretches of Sheboygan’s west side have seemed unprotected and vulnerable. Then, this past week, the cranes returned and they restored the pole to its old glory. All that is missing is the flag.

But…

Yesterday, passers-by noticed something alarming. The mighty flagpole, all 338 feet of it, was swaying in the wind. Not just swaying, but wobbling in a disconcerting manner. Yes, I know that architecturally, any tall structure like that has to have some give to it; like the Willow that Bends before the Mighty Storm; but the way that sucker was wagging did not look healthy. It made me wonder what will happen once they hoist the flag; and if they’d have to call in the engineers again.

You have probably figured out by now that I don’t have a whole lot of reverence for the Acuity Flag. I pay a certain amount of respect for the American Flag out of respect for my country. But my love of country is not absolute.

People like to remind us that we are One Nation under God. I sometimes wonder if they realize that this means we are UNDER God. We are not equal to God; nor does God bestow special blessing on us because we are His Favored Nation. We are subject to God’s authority and his power.

And when I watched the video of the mighty Acuity flagpole wobbling in the fresh spring breeze, I couldn’t help but imagine God mocking the presumptuous men raising their banners of earthly glory.