All around us are symbols which evoke widely different feelings.
Some people will look at the symbol with a smile, others may view the very same symbol with horrible regret, distaste, and revulsion.
To me, the Confederate flag - symbol of the rebellious Confederacy which seceded from the United States over the question of slavery - is that kind of symbol.
A group called the "Fair-Minded Coalition of Lorain County" objects to a vendor's sale of Confederate flags at the county fair. This year, it posted billboards voicing its objections.
At the fairgrounds in Wellington, a Confederate flag is prominently displayed outside the tent of vendor Russell Bissett of Martinsburg, West Virginia. Bissett has worked the Lorain County Fair for years and has heard the criticism of his sales.
"I don't see anything wrong with selling them, me personally," Bissett tells us. "You have a choice, you don't have to buy it if you don't want it. If you want it, you can buy it."
Ron Pickworth, President of the Lorain County Fair Board stands by Bissett, contending his sales are about the First Amendment and the right to free speech and expression.
"We've got overwhelming support from our fairgoers that say they agree with us that it's a freedom of speech issue," says Pickworth.
A tale of two flags. Here the two flags are side-by-side. But for many people, philosophically they can be as far apart as they could be.
The Confederate flag and the slavery and racism which it was under is uncomfortable for millions of people, including me. My ancestors were slaves in this country.
Still there is the First Amendment and the right for a seller to sell that flag.
But what it represents for me is slavery and a system that was designed to keep people apart and held underfoot. Russell Bissett has a right to sell it, but he has a responsibility not to sell it.
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