Recently, I was in the company of a young man wearing a muscle shirt with a big tattoo of a fleur-de-lis on his arm. Everyone in Louisiana realizes it’s the logo of the New Orleans Saints.

I asked if he knew how the dictionary describes fleur-de-lis. He said, “I remember hearing what it is, but I forgot.”

I then asked if he knew what the Cross stood for. He smiled and said, “Yes.”

“Why don’t you tattoo that on your other arm? At least you know what it represents.”

He just laughed.

It amazes me that people use the fleur-de-lis in political ads, business cards, etc. If you ask 100 people what fleur-de-lis stands for, maybe one will know.

This proves that people just want to be a part of something even if they don’t know much about it. Louisiana is known as being a religious state, but more people recognize and respect the fleur-de-lis than the Cross of Christ.

I learned about the fleur-de-lis when I was in the seventh grade at St. Peter Catholic School.

It was during the Lenten Season in 1947. The Mother Superior was on her annual visit to our school.

I was seated next to the bulletin board and she asked me, as she pointed to a picture of the fleur-de-lis, if I knew what it represented.

Before I could answer, Sister Mary Evangelist said, “No, he wouldn’t know, because he goes to the movies two or three times a week during Lent.”   

I’ve never forgotten that embarrassing moment, Mother Superior, Sister Many Evangelist or the meaning of the fleur-de-lis.

If you’re curious, maybe you should look it up in the dictionary.

If you have any questions or comments, please write Harold Keller at Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-542-8477 or email hkeller@comcast.net.