I listen to podcasts when I ride my bicycle. Sometimes the sights, sounds, and blood pumping up billions (OK, fewer than there used to be) of neurons coalesce into thoughts like small flowing tributaries merging into a life-affirming river. Yesterday’s blend included the words of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, politics, the recent Olympics, and a gently waving flag.

The 10% Happier podcast featuring Dan Harris interviewing the Wilco frontman is a worthy listen. In fact, I may need a repeat. Jeff is a deep dude, and the conversation was fun and insightful. In the deep end, here’s his take on how each of us uniquely experiences a song, or any art, really:

“…each song has its own meaning with each consciousness it encounters. In some cases, the meaning might be almost nothing because it doesn’t work. The magic doesn’t work for some people. That song could mean everything completely and encapsulate a moment in time in their life. It could like intertwine itself with sense memories like even smell, you know. So there’s just… it’s just about how beautiful. I think that is that we can listen to a song you and I can like the same song. We can love the same song. We can maybe even compare notes and think that the song means just about the same thing and like on its face. But your version of it is never going to be exactly like mine and the way that your life gets absorbed into that song is going to be its own world compared to mine.”

Pedaling along through a local park, a gently waving flag caught my eye. It burned an impression in me because, on my return trip, I stopped to take this picture.

The light wind breathed a gentleness into the red, white, and blue cloth and while it evoked a positive feeling at that moment, Tweedy’s words had me wondering how others at different times and places perceived our national symbol.

Scenarios ran through my mind like a flickering filmstrip. I recalled recently watching “Band of Brothers” and the scenes of American troops liberating a German concentration camp. How did those prisoners see our flag? What about Vietnamese civilians during that conflict in the 60’s and 70’s? Some of you may remember the national unity we felt in the aftermath of 9/11 and the powerful symbolism of our flag being raised against a backdrop of death and destruction. The reasons for hatred of our country by many in the Middle East and across the world can be debated, but for the moment, I think it’s understood our flag is not universally loved.

That brings me back home to a place where our flag is not co-opted by fellow citizens who attempted to overturn an election on behalf of a man who received five military draft deferments to avoid serving his country.

Then there’s Gabby. Gabby Thomas, Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Quincy Hall, Cole Hocker, Kristen Faulkner, Torri Huske, Ryan Crouser, LeBron James, Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, A’ja Wilson, Kahleah Copper, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Christophe Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, Rai Benjamin, and so many other US athletes were rewarded for their efforts and draped themselves in the Stars and Stripes while looking thrilled to do so.

Last week, after getting lost in the hills of nearby Leominster and Sterling, MA, I was struggling to get home over the last 10 or so miles when I saw a flag hanging off a building 100 years ahead and up a hill. My legs were leaden, and my breathing was just about maxed out. I was tempted to stop and walk up the hill. That’s when my imagination kicked in with a motivator, “Fuck that, dude. If you quit, Trump’s going to win.” I pedaled up the hill and the rest of the way home.

I want our flag back and more reasons to feel pride when looking at it.