Kim Wood, age 11, of Richmond, Virginia, for her question:

Do the reds white and blue colors of our flab stand for anything?

You can bet your boots they do. The red, white and blue colors were chosen by the Continental Congress, way back in the 1770s. The members of the Congress were,.of course, very busy drafting the noble concepts of a new nation    which may explain why they failed to explain why they chose those particular colors. This was done later. In 1782, the Congress of the Confederation selected the same colors for the Great Seal of the United States    and clearly stated the qualities represented by each color.

The red stands for the sturdy qualities of hardiness and courage. The white stands for the honest virtues of purity and innocence. The blue stands for the durable qualities of vigilance, perserverance and justice. We cannot expect all of us to maintain all these noble qualities at all times. But if all of us tried and most of us even partly succeeded most of the time, then surely our great country would surpass the dreams of our great Founding Fathers.