As a soldier stood in line at a California grocery store, a woman wearing a hijab confronted the store’s cashier about their American flag pin, and everyone in the store heard it. However, a man standing behind the soldier wasn’t having any of it, and by the time he finished, the entire store was caught off guard.

According to an unverifiable claim, a man recounted the story about how his soldier son had gone to California and encountered many different people, most of whom thanked him for his military service and fighting to protect our freedoms. However, one incident at a grocery store, as he headed back to base, stuck in his mind.

As the soldier was waiting in the checkout line, a woman dressed in a hijab had some unkind things to say about our country and the flag that represents it. He heard the woman ahead of him loudly remark about the cashier’s American flag pin. In response, the cashier reached up and touched the pin, saying, “Yes, I always wear it and probably always will.”

A cashier was wearing an American flag pin that one woman didn’t like. (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Apparently, that didn’t sit too well with the hijab-wearing woman, who claimed to be of Iraqi descent. She shot back by asking the clerk when she was going to stop bombing her country. Well, that comment didn’t go unnoticed or unchecked. After a man standing behind the soldier heard her remark, he spoke up.

Putting his arm around the soldier’s shoulders, he said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: “Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn’t need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I’ll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid.”

Ouch! This man was blunt in his response, but he is 100% right. Apparently, everyone in the store thought so too, and they all started cheering after they heard what he said. Whether you’re a Muslim, Christian, Democrat, or Republican, you should respect the American flag and all that it represents.

Is it a true story? There were few details to use for verification. None of the characters in the story had a name or were in any other way identifiable. As far as we know, no one has stepped forward to say, “I was that soldier,” or, “I was that cashier,” or, “I was a customer in the store that day and saw the confrontation.”

Although the story is likely just an urban legend, it does bring up a lot of great points. The hijab-wearing woman’s attitude exemplifies the problem with some of the people who come to our nation seeking refuge from the problems they’ve created in their home country.

This Iraqi woman wants to enjoy our freedom, our economy, and our country. Meanwhile, she turns around and insults our flag. Thankfully, this woman is not representative of all immigrants. But, as the man in the store said to her at the time – if you don’t like America, we’ll gladly send you back to where you came from, just let us know when you’d like to leave.