Charita Goshay: This flag is your flag. This flag is my flag.

What comes to mind when you see an American flag?

The world's best known, most-instantly recognizable symbol, there certainly is none other like it.

When it come to flags, some countries don't seem to have tried very hard. Looking at you, Austria, Bahrain, and Monaco.

At least two — Ivory Coast and Ireland — appear to be identical. Others clearly were designed by committee, by way of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning an American flag is a form of free speech — but it's no less disconcerting when you see one ablaze, which, we have to suppose, is the point.

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According to the U.S. Flag Code, the flag isn't to be changed or reconfigured, but now we see it in every pattern and color of the rainbow — including rainbows.

It's been worn as a poncho, cut up into bikinis, and used as curtains, kerchiefs and face masks.

There are flags that are half-American, half-Confederate.

Pick a lane.

In recent years, the American flag has been misused, co-opted and weaponized to the point where some people who love this country are hesitant to display a flag for fear of being mistaken for an extremist.

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That's unfortunate.

In some circles, it's become unspoken code, brandished by some folks to "own" others.

We saw for ourselves how some American flags were used as blunt instruments on Jan. 6, 2021, to injure Capitol Police officers by people who will swear to you on their mother's next breath that they "back the blue."

Tuesday marks Flag Day; a day to reset what the flag really means.

It is the embodiment of hope, promise, and opportunity. It is another way to say freedom. It serves as a reminder that despite our shortcomings and imperfections, we are some of the luckiest people on earth.

The American flag is a reminder of what needs to be preserved, protected and defended. It urges us to remember and honor the millions of those who gave their lives doing so.

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The flag, like the country for which it stands, does not belong to a single group of citizens or causes.

It belongs to you whose forebears left their own shores so that you and your children would have a chance.

It belongs to the Native Americans upon whose land this country was built.

It belongs to you who descended from the enslaved Africans who built its foundation, and to those of you whose families hailed from places where they had to cross borders.

It belongs to you whose ancestors fought and died at Bunker Hill.

It belongs to everyone who believes that "a more perfect union" is still possible.

The flag enfolds values and ideals unique to America. Its meaning cannot be allowed to be warped or perverted.

But flying the flag does not make you somehow more patriotic than those who don't, especially because so many displays have become performative. That festooned truck doesn't love America any more than I do.

My love is an unrequited love.

True patriotism lies in the knowledge that ours is a nation worth fighting for. It is believing that we are a strong-enough country to accommodate a variety of views, cultures, and beliefs, which is our superpower.

It is rejecting the notion that the country needs to be "taken back" to a different time, to be run by a chosen few.

Real patriotism embraces our national motto, E Pluribus Unim: "Out of Many, One," which is another way of saying, "It's your flag, too."

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charita Goshay: This flag is your flag. This flag is my flag.