Respect the Flag
- Alex
The Federal Flag Code contains guidlines for handling and displaying the United States Flag. If you're interested, you can find the full text
here. For my purposes today, I just want to deal with the following section:
"Traditional guidelines call for displaying the flag in public only from sunrise to sunset. However, the flag may be displayed at all times if it's illuminated during darkness. The flag should not be subject to weather damage, so it should not be displayed during rain, snow and wind storms unless it is an all-weather flag."
The reason I bring this up is... After the 9/11 tragedies, some well-intentioned person stuck a flag into a cast-iron statue they've got of a
cowboy on a horse. It sits in plain sight, adjacent to Interstate 35, along my way to work every day. The flag is still there. It's now a stick,
with some vaguely red and white tatters on the end of it. Clearly, it wasn't an all-weather flag, and it certainly wasn't illuminated at night.
Most days when I see it I get briefly annoyed. I really want to call the Sheriff and see if we can get what's left taken down. At the same time,
I wouldn't want whoever it is to get fined, so I just keep hoping they'll take it down. I realize it was a genuine display of patriotism at one point,
but a true patriot would have found a better way. And don't tell me that you'd do that 'for the troops.' I wonder how many uniformed men and women
saw the same thing as I did... and did any of them get really angry? My friend North tells the story of his youth at American Legion camp. There
was a flag displayed over one of the cabins... three of the Veterans who were there tried to take it in for the night. Failing that, they took turns
and stood with a flashlight all night, illuminating it. Don't tell me our troops would leave a flag out for almost two years until it disintigrated.
It's a small thing to be annoyed over, I realize. We, as a country, are experiencing a large surge of national pride at the moment, however,
and I'd just like to ask everyone to take a moment and think about what it really means to take some personal responsibility, and do something
for your country... not just stick a flag in a horse statue and let it rot.
While you're at it, do something really tangible and do something nice for your community. Thank you.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
