A national disgrace

In the days after September 11th, it became the "thing" to fly US flags from cars. Little flags were suddenly the hot seller, and millions of cars suddenly sprouted the red, white, and blue.

No, it is six months later, and some of those flags are still up. Six months of high-speed airflow, rain, road debris, sun and simple vibration have left the symbol of our nation no more that a flag-shaped rag on some vehicles. It makes me physically ill to pass a car with "America stands tall" and "United We Stand" on the bumper while the flag is left to rot.

People, it is not that hard to replace the flag, or, if it was put up as an empty gesture of pseudo-patriotism, just take it down once and for all. The Stars and Stripes are an important symbol of our nation, and it should not be treated this way!

(Side note: If you wish to burn a flag as a method of protest, fine with me. That is your right. My beef is with the careless treatment of the flag.)

If you do have one of those tattered banners, please remove it. Do not throw it away! The proper method of disposing flags is by burning, ironically enough. The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars handle flag disposal.. in some areas, they will collect soiled or torn flags for proper immolation.

". . . gave proof, through the night, that our flag was still there. . ."

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