The Flag of Humanity

The Flag of Humanity flying across the street from the United nations building in New York City.

Goal:  A not-for-profit venture

We want to see this flag flying over all the nations of the earth someday, celebrating the commonality of being human.  An initial, short term goal is to have the Flag of Humanity - celebrating the commonality of being human- with the quote "No matter a person's religion, or lack thereof; no matter a person's skin color, nationality or politics, these differences are as nothing compared to what we have in common...we are human"
in at least one school in every country, and eventually in every school on earth.


Why gofundme:

We want to buy flags (t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.) in bulk so we can ship them to schools in every country on earth, and to make them available at a reasonable price on our website theflagofhumanity.com

We also plan to incorporate as a non-profit corporation and pursue other avenues of funding to promote the flag and the concept it represents.

Story of the Flag:

I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail with my son Tiberius, Ti for short, seven years ago in 2008. It was a coming of age trip for the young man, then 12 going on 13. One day, as Ti was marching up the mountain in front of me; he was stomping  because he was mad Dad woke him up so early, I got to thinking of what kind of a world my son would inherit. The world is messed up in so many ways.

Hiking being conducive to thought, I thought "YES", the world is messed up. But it's almost always based on our differences, the differences between us humans. But when you think deeper about it, "No matter a person's religion, or lack thereof; no matter a person's skin color, nationality or politics - these differences are nothing compared to what we have in common...we are human."

We should have something to celebrate that, the commonality of being human.

That night I made a crude drawing of a Flag of Humanity, something that could be flown by any person on earth.

Not being an artist I took it to a design team in Asheville, North Carolina, and five years and many versions later we have what you see before you.

The flag is two sets of hands, an adult's hands and a child's hands. The adult hands are passing the earth to the child. The hands are in silhouette to represent all the skin colors of the people on earth.

There is in the flag an inherent sense of responsibility, in that we need to be mindful of what we pass on to our children.

Every other flag on earth represents, or celebrates a difference. I'm Canadian, German or Russian, I'm from this organization, or that organization. This flag does not. It can be flown by anyone, anywhere on earth.
Flags are powerful things. Every country on earth has one. Children in many countries pledge allegiance to their flag every morning in school. The image of the raising of a flag at Iwo Jima is a powerful, passionate image. When man went to the moon he planted a flag. And in the course of human history millions of men and women have followed a flag or banner into battle, to kill or be killed! 

So flags are powerful things, and I believe this flag could be the most powerful of all, because it represents... all of us.

What would be the result, if for three generations children in one country could look at this flag flying over their home, school, government building, or at sporting events, and do so knowing that children in another country, though they have a different skin color, different religion, different politics, and different nationality, are looking at the same flag, celebrating that commonality that is greater than our differences, that of being human?

I believe the results, the return on such an investment, would be huge, and quite possibly, priceless.

Never in the course of human history have we needed, as much as now, for our own survival, to understand that we have more in common than our differences.
It is my fervent hope this flag will be flying over all the nations of the earth someday, reminding us of our commonalities and celebrating that commonality of being human.

I've been selling flags and t-shirts, at cost, from my fish plant in Canada for years now, but recently I was told I need to get louder, hence this fundraising campaign. Anyone contributing will receive a certificate stating that they support the Flag of Humanity, and a bumper sticker.

Flags, shirts and bumper stickers are available at the website theflagofhumanity.com as are pictures of the flag flying in different parts of the world.
Just as the Canadian flag belongs to every Canadian, The Flag of Humanity belongs to every member of the human race. This is The Flag of Humanity and it belongs to us all.We want to get the flag flying in every nation on the earth. So  you can download your own image of The Flag of Humanity and get your own flags or t-shirts, bumper stickers etc. made locally to save costs by contacting a local flag maker or screen-printer. If you want to sell t-shirts to raise funds for a charitable project, go right ahead.
If you are a teacher and want the image in your classroom, simply print The Flag of Humanity onto a sheet of paper, and get your students to write
"No matter a person's religion, or lack thereof; no matter a person's skin color, nationality or politics - these differences are as nothing compared to what we have in common...we are human."
on another piece of paper and put it on the wall.