Stars and Stripes

The doorbell rang again. It was Uncle Sam, equipped with an M-16 and a big bushy beard. There were so many stars and stripes on his top hat and pinstriped suit, that it was mesmerizing.
“You’ve got to go to war!” he declared.
“But I’m just a young boy!” Jacob objected. Uncle Sam shook a thin, frail finger. Jacob looked down, his legs shooting off into the sky; California Redwoods. Uncle Sam waved and smiled, nodding his head in satisfaction, his frail frame quickly becoming a speck. Jacob continued growing, his limbs and body proportioning, until at length, his head was in the clouds. Jacob was sure he was done growing when he reached the Earth’s atmosphere. But he was deeply mistaken. His head pushed through the final layer of thick atmospheric gases, right into a man’s face. It was Uncle Sam again!
“I’m not who you think I am, Jacob” the man said. His lips remained motionless. His eyes seemed to do the talking, as they had remained locked on Jacob’s since their encounter. Jacob opened his mouth to speak, but the old man raised a finger to his lips.
“Let your heart speak for you.”
“My heart…” Jacob thought. His chest started to open, his flesh hanging like hinges off a broken down door. The beating bloody organ found its way to the old man.
“Go on” he said, nodded his head, and brushed Jacob away with the wave of his wrist. And Jacob started falling. He was little again.
“Or, maybe, I’ve been little this whole time” he thought. He braced for impact, but his fall to Earth was not memorable, as he sat on the same couch where he’d sat minutes before Uncle Sam interrupted. The door bell rang again with the passing thought. It was God. How Jacob knew, he wasn’t so sure. It was probably the finely stitched nametag on God’s robe. Or it was probably the golden, disc-shaped halo floating around his head. Either way, Jacob knew this man was of heavenly decent.
“Your heart has spoken. And we have decided it is best if you do not engage in this war.”
“But I have a duty to uphold to my country!” Jacob protested. Why, he knew not, since moments earlier, he had protested against Uncle Sam’s demand.
“What has your country done for you, Jacob?” God asked.
“It has fed me, clothed me, provided me with opportunities to further myself.” God shook his head and opened his palm. In it, lay an apple and a cotton seed.
“For centuries, your people have slaved away harvesting these fruits you say your government has provided you with. You think you are any different from your ancestors? You now slave away in wars your government deceives you into fighting. A war is not fought by a governmental administration. It is fought by it’s people. And it is with people with hearts like yours that will end this.”
“I see words will not suffice” God started again at Jacob’s silence.
“I do wish to believe you but…” Jacob trailed off. He remained seated on the sagging couch that had housed kittens once before.
“You must see to believe?” God asked, an eyebrow raised, arms crossed against his chest. Jacob nodded sadly, his head bowed in shame.
“Very well.” Before Jacob’s brain could even begin to process what was going on, they were back in the clouds.
“From here I see all. Even that.” God raised a long, slender finger and pointed down at bright flashes of light spanning across the globe.
“Stars and stripes. My country‘s flag!” Jacob exclaimed. From an inside pocket, God pulled out a palpitating heart.
“Look again, Jacob. This time, with that which always knows best.” Jacob’s heart returned to him, wedged between his lungs, pressing against his ribcage, snugly in place where it belonged. And Jacob looked once more at the bombing raids and missile streaks that had befallen the war-riddled world.