Ginger Cross, age 10, of Muncie, Indiana, for her question:

Do the colors of our flag have any special meanings?

This paragraph is for those adults who feel downhearted about the so called youth generation. Please regard today's question as typical of many. The mail to this column reveals the usual majority of solid citizens and the usual percentage of rebels. The problems seem more numerous because we have a bumper crop of children. As usual, it is up to the adults to take the major responsibilities and enjoy them as privileges. Our bumper crop is the same as always, with these exceptions. The children are aware that they face more serious problems    and somewhat unaware of how much they need the maximum from their entire adult generation.

Ginger says that she wants to start a collection of respectful statements about the Flag. She asked the right person, but respect is one of those words with deep down meanings. Andy can only try to do it justice. Other such deep words are honor and , courage, patriotism and loyalty. Everyone has to think hard to understand them. Certain unfortunate folk can never really grasp them though they often use them to sound holier than they really are.

It also takes a lot of deep down thinking to understand the Flag. The original one of 1777 and 13 stars and stripes. The young Founding Fathers respectfully regarded it as a new constellation. But they did not explain the meaning of the Red, White and Blue until five years later, when the Congress used the same colors to design the Great Seal of the United States.

We can read what the colors mean in the original description of the Great Seal. The Red stands for hardiness and valor. These are the tough qualities of endurance and courage, standing right by us when the whole world seems to be falling apart. The White stands for purity and innocence. The deeper meanings of these words include our good intentions and true honesty toward ourselves and others.

The Blue background is hardest to grasp because it expects us to consider others, fairly and sensibly. It stands for vigilance, perseverance and justice. Vigilance is a special kind of watchfulness. It expects us to show our good intentions and wisely waits until we do. Perseverance is disappointed when we give up because something worthwhile seems too much trouble. The hardest word is justice, the quality of fairness. It expects each of us to think a lot about what is fair and sensible for all of us    including ourselves.

The words used to describe the colors in our flag give us a lot to think about. It has other proud and noble meanings that need no words. Perhaps the best one is this. Our country's flag represents each and every one of us while at the same time representing all of us as one nation. The more you think about all its deep down meanings, the more you just have to respect it.