Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Too many flags?

What is it with people? I am going to chalk this up to ignorance, but it's craziness - really.

Consider how many American flags you have seen lately. It's cool, huh? Patriotism is usually fashionable, but people are really getting into it.

Spurn that Bin Laden!

But in my neighborhood (you can judge if yours is the same) I have seen the tell-tale signs that many of my roadmates skipped Boy Scouts.

Here's my point. People are putting up the flag, but they are not treating the flag correctly! Here's a sampling of some of the rules.

The American Flag should never be left out in the rain. When it rains, I don't see people scurrying out of their houses to save old glory from the disgrace.
The American Flag should never touch the ground. This comes from the tradition of holding banners in battle. The fact of the matter is, when a flag touches the ground it must be destroyed.

The American Flag cannot be thrown into the trash. Imagine the horror of some veteran who drives by a city dump only to see a scattering of flags throughout. Flags must be burned when they are ready to be destroyed.

The American Flag should not be left out in the dark. This is why taps (played at sunset) is when the color guard lowers the flag on the pole. When night comes, the flag should be taken inside - unless!, there is a special case, you have a flood light on it. Then it can be left out in the "dark".

Then there are more nebulous rules. One of them is that you should not "wear" the flag, but I am not going to be the guy going up to the guy on the Harley and point that out.

So, here's the point in all this. In an effort to be respectful (which is noble and good, of course) some of are inadvertantly being disrespectful.

True on so many levels.

No comments: