Flags are Cool.

One of my first couple posts in my blogging venture here with the Admissions Department was talking about juggling, and how both learning how to juggle and practicing mindfulness through juggling was able to help me get through the headspace of constant work through online learning.

Here’s the gif, in case you’ve forgotten:

I’m still juggling from time to time, it’s a great way to keep your body busy while listening to an audiobook or podcast, but now that I got over the basics of learning the skill, it’s not quite as engaging, you know?

So instead, what I’ve ended up doing now is something I never thought I would derive enjoyment from: Learning the flags of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations.

I repeat: Flags are Cool.

Symbols in general are awesome (or maybe that’s just the communications major coming out in me), we find ways to take what would otherwise be meaningless images or colors and we turn them into highly charged, contested, beloved, and hated images that have meaning.

Like, if I told you that a circle on a blank slate would symbolize the divine right to rule of an emperor, a connection to the traditional faiths of Sun deities, and that it would help unite peoples from many different island cultures through two-world wars and one of the fastest and most radical industrial and political revolutions in history, it would sound pretty silly.

But of course, I’m talking about the flag of Japan, the Rising Sun, which is both a unique and pretty cool looking flag:

Flags mean things. Flags represent peoples. If you know what you’re looking for, in one flag you can see history, philosophy, ideals, and beliefs of a group of people. Flags are cool dude.

For instance! Take the flag of the Philippines:

It’s a pretty cool looking flag, right?! But did you know that it’s one of the few flags of the world that’s actually intended to be reversible??

If the flag is flying blue stripe up, it means that the nation is at a time of peace. If the flag is flying red stripe up, it means that the nation is in a time of war.

How cool is that!? The answer: Super Cool.

I’m an American, born and raised, and privileged enough to not have spent my childhood worryingly learning about different nations and peoples because I was afraid for my own safety. That’s a good thing, and I’m incredibly thankful for it, BUT, it can also lead me down a path of ignorance if I’m not careful.

Learning flags of the world is potentially a meaningless gesture. It’s small, it doesn’t do much. It’s not even really helping anyone other than my own pandemic-sanity.

But it’s the first time in my life that I’m learning about certain peoples and places. Every time I learn a new flag or people, it’s a small, tiny way of me being able to say: “I see you. You exist. You are important. I see you.”

It’s the beginning of being able to learn more. I can’t possible commit to learning every single aspect of 193 countries, in fact, as I’m writing this post, I still haven’t learned more than maybe 120 flags. But it can be the first step of acknowledging the greater world around me, and how I am merely an extra in this stage and all it’s players.

Recognition is the first step to knowledge, so besides being just a fun challenge to keep my brain occupied in the whirlwind of doom-scrolling, vaccine-waiting, and online class workloads, it’s also a small way that I can open my brain up to learning more in the future.

Maybe one day, for instance, I’ll be able to talk to someone from the Ivory Coast, and instead of sheepishly having to ask them to define their existence to me because of my ignorance, I can jump straight into meaningful conversation with a person as a person.

Just to be clear, I’m not urging everyone to go out and learn 193 flags. Heavens no, I’m lucky that this has been as interesting and fun for me as it has been. What I am saying, is that maybe what your brain needs in the middle of 8 hours of screen time a day, is a fun quick diversion into learning about something that will make you grow in small and easy but meaningful ways.

Hang in there! The end of this long night is near!