Country star Chris Janson says respecting the flag is the number one lesson he wants his kids to learn
Chris Janson hopes to instill in his children pride in their country.
"I want my kids to respect the flag and honor our country and be proud of where you come from and be honest and be respectful," the country star told Fox News Digital ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.
The multi-platinum singer recently collaborated with five-time Grammy winner Steven Curtis Chapman for a new rendition of "America the Beautiful."
The song made its live debut last month with the children’s choir featured on the track at the Grand Ole Opry.
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"Truth – even in song – the truth always wins," Janson continued. "So if you're just telling the truth you don't have to go back and lie about anything. You don't need to cover up for anything. You don't have to think about it twice. You just tell the truth the first time, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, the truth is the truth. So those are the things I would like to instill in my kids."
The 40-year-old continued: "I love this country. I've said it so many times, like, we have freedom here like no other place. It's really amazing. So number one is you respect your flag."
Janson remembered a pivotal moment from his childhood when his fourth-grade teacher explained the importance of having deference to the flag.
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"It was my turn to go take the flag down," he explained. "I brought the flag down off the pole and I wrapped it around my shoulders like a superhero. I didn't think a thing of it. He was a veteran, and he came out there and he scolded me hard, and I did not understand what in the world I was in trouble for."
He said his teacher explained to him that he was letting the tips of the flag touch the ground.
"‘Don't you ever let that touch the ground again," he said his teacher told him, "and I was like blown away. I didn't understand this until I was an adult. Until I really understood what freedom meant."
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Traveling around the world, he said, can remind Americans how lucky we are to live here.
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"Coming from a pretty low-class kid here from a trailer park, it's a – I remind my kids all the time," he said. "Yeah, we got it pretty good, but don't forget it's a big deal to get to go out to dinner. You get to do that. It's a big deal to walk to the fridge and have whatever you want at the snap of a finger. It's a blessing."
He added, "And it's something not to be taken for granted. But we are in a free country and we do have the honor and the privilege provided by our great servicemen and women to have a luxury of freedom, to have luxury to live the American dream and man, that's really important."
Chapman said that traveling around the world has made him realize how lucky he is to be an American.
"Music has taken this country boy, two country boys that constantly look and go, ‘How in the world did we get here except the grace of God?" Chapman told Fox News Digital, calling himself a "boy from Paducah, Kentucky."
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Chapman remembered singing Christian songs once at a Hard Rock café in Beijing, China, and worrying that at worst the government might force him to stop, but realizing that the real danger is for the Chinese fans who want to listen to his music.
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"You encounter that in places and suddenly your eyes are open to just what an amazing gift it is that we have" in the United States, he said.
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Chapman also mentioned his grandfather, a World War II veteran who earned a Purple Heart, who got a mention in their version of "American the Beautiful."
"I grew up just loving and respecting him and probably in many ways because of his service and his love for our country, a deep love for America and for the freedom that we have," he said. "And it is an incredible gift. And with any gift that we have, it's something to be stewarded. It's something never to lose the gratitude for, even with the brokenness and even with, you know, the things that we don't have easy answers for."
He continued, "Gosh, to just be grateful, gratitude just makes such a difference in my own heart, personally," adding, he recognizes "what a gift we have, the gift of freedom" to be able to sing songs about his faith "in a country where, you know, anyone can do that and sing about the things that are important or speak about the thing that they believe and are important."
"And it's a great, great, beautiful thing, and I'm very grateful for it," he said.