I think at this moment, it is still too close to us all. As long as the words are from the heart, they are rich in emotion.

Thank you for sharing. My own small contribution, in return:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $count = 0;
while ( $count < 42 ) {

    # Draw pole
    print( ' ', '+', ' ' ) if ( $count == 0 );
    print( '|', ' ', '|' ) if ($count);

    # Draw lanyard
    print(' ') if ( ( $count > 5 )  and ( $count < 40 ) );
    print(' ') if ( ( $count > 20 ) and ( $count < 39 ) );
    print('\\') if ( ( $count == 5 ) or ( $count == 21 ) );
    print('|')
      if ( ( $count == 22 )
        or ( ( $count > 36 ) and ( $count < 39 ) ) );
    print('/') if ( $count == 39 );

    # Draw US flag (which would normally start at 2)
    print( '+', '-' x 59, '+' )
      if ( ( $count == 6 )
        or ( $count == 20 )
        or ( $count == 23 )
        or ( $count == 36 ) );
    print( '|', ' *' x 6, ' ', '#' x 46, '|' )
      if ( ( $count > 6 )
        and ( $count < 15 )
        and ( $count % 2 ) );
    print( '|', ' ' x 2, '* ' x 5, ' |', ' ' x 45, '|' )
      if ( ( $count > 6 )
        and ( $count < 15 )
        and ( !( $count % 2 ) ) );
    print( '|', ( $count % 2 ? '#' : ' ' ) x 59, '|' )
      if ( ( $count > 14 ) and ( $count < 20 ) );

    # Draw TX flag
    print( '|', ' ' x 7 )
      if ( ( $count > 23 ) and ( $count < 36 ) );
    print(' ')
      if ( ( $count != 29 )
        and ( $count > 26 )
        and ( $count < 32 ) );
    print( ' ' x ( 29 - $count ) )
      if ( ( $count > 26 ) and ( $count < 29 ) );
    print('*') if ( $count == 29 );
    print( '*' x ( ( $count - 27 ) * 2 + 1 ) )
      if ( ( $count > 26 ) and ( $count < 30 ) );
    print('*') if ( $count == 29 );
    print(
        ( $count % 2 ? '*' : ' ' ),
        ( $count % 2 ? ' ' : '*' ) x 3,
        ( $count % 2 ? '*' : ' ' )
      )
      if ( ( $count > 29 ) and ( $count < 32 ) );
    print( ' ' x ( 29 - $count ) )
      if ( ( $count > 26 ) and ( $count < 30 ) );
    print(' ')
      if ( ( $count != 29 )
        and ( $count > 26 )
        and ( $count < 32 ) );
    print( ' ' x 5 )
      if ( ( ( $count > 23 ) and ( $count < 27 ) )
        or ( ( $count > 31 ) and ( $count < 36 ) ) );
    print( ' ' x 5 )
      if ( ( ( $count > 23 ) and ( $count < 27 ) )
        or ( ( $count > 31 ) and ( $count < 36 ) ) );
    print( ' ' x 3 ) if ( ( $count > 26 ) and ( $count < 32 ) );
    print( ' ' x 3 ) if ( ( $count > 23 ) and ( $count < 36 ) );
    print(
        ( $count < 30 ? '|' : '#' ),
        ( $count < 30 ? ' ' : '#' ) x 38,
        '|'
      )
      if ( ( $count > 23 ) and ( $count < 36 ) );

    print("\n");
    $count++;
}
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Update: Changed while so all output would remain on a 43 row display.