In 2012, an unidentified lady and I sat next to each other at a Hays Consolidated School District Board (HCISD) meeting. We stood to speak on opposite sides of a volatile issue: display of the Confederate flag at Jack C. Hays High School. She spoke in support of flag displays, sharing that her great-grandfather had fought for Texas against the United States during the Civil War. I argued against the flag as a veteran who had sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United State...