ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991                   TAG: 9102260399
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RIBBONS ARE BEST WORN CLOSE TO HEART

THE OTHER day, I saw a yellow ribbon that had been placed beside Virginia 419. This bow was quite ordinary and even somewhat dilapidated. Its color had faded and its drooping folds were covered with grime thrown up by passing cars.

What I found engaging (or perhaps disheartening) about this soiled patriotic symbol was the fact that it adorned the logo of a local real-estate company. Rather than symbolize an enduring and deeply personal concern for our sons and daughters in the gulf, this little yellow ribbon seemed to embody something a great deal less: the commercialization of a passing vogue.

CNN recently reported on the popularity of yellow ribbons among school children. Each child attempted to outdo classmates by wearing an ever-more elaborate array of yellow ribbons. Here too, the meaning of this symbol seems (at least in part) to have been forgotten. Somehow, genuine concern has been replaced by vanity and self-aggrandizement.

Certainly our troops in the Middle East will come home to more auspicious circumstances than the unfortunate survivors of Vietnam. Yellow ribbons and marching bands beat being spat on and called "child murderer" any day. Still, while my generation fights this latest war, I will continue to believe that yellow ribbons should be worn close to the heart and not on one's sleeve. WILLIAM M. BREWSTER JR. ROANOKE 


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