A national disgrace

[gridlore]

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. . ."

Comments

[kshandra]

shaggy quoted something in his journal a couple of days ago:

"Where was your flag on September 10th?"

He's got a point....

[johno.livejournal.com]

I forget the name of the song or the exact line that asks the musical question:

"How many flag decals does it take to get into heaven?"

I had the same thoughts just a few weeks after 9/11, when the cheap knock-offs were shreading.

I refused to put one on my car because I knew what would happen to it.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

There was a editorial cartoon... I wish I could find it again, that showed one person in a huge SUV covered with flags and stickers and such, and billowing smoke out of the tailpipe, and another person in a un-decorated car with an electrical cord. Across the bottom it said "Who's the patriot?"

Grid, you should write this up as an editorial and send it to several papers. Heck, I'll send it to the locals.

It's one of my hot buttons, too

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

For another look at a lack of respect... Saturday was opening day for the Trid's softball league. Opening Day ceremonies always include the singing of the National Anthem. Teams line up on the field and one player from each team steps forward to the pitcher's mound with a flag. Since the teams usually line up shortest to tallest, the flag frequently gets handed to the person least capable of keeping it off the ground. Okay, we do our best with that. In the years i've managed a team, I've had the flag-bearer drape part of the flag over one shoulder to help keep it off the ground while we're waiting for things to begin.

There's a fair amount of standing around before things actually start to happen,and kids get bored - well, of course. But, Saturday, the kid holding the flag for one of the 8-and-under teams (which means she could have been as young as 5) was not merely to short to hold the flag up high enough - she was busy playing with the other end of the flagstaff, drawing circles in the dirt. I understand the the child herself probably had no understanding of the significance of what she was being asked to do - but why didn't the adult in charge of the team do something more than simply say something along the lines of "Don't do that..." (I was in the stands too far away to either hear what was said or take some action myself. But i came very close to going out and doing something about it.) My response would have been, "Susie, if you can't hold the flag properly, we will give the job to someone else," and would have done so after the second incident. This was simply allowed to go on, with the flag dragging in the dirt, until ceremonies actually began.

In balance, across the field, another 8-and-under team had one child holding the flagstaff while two others held up the middle and the free end of the flag. At least some people still seem to understand respect for what the flag represents.

THANK YOU

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I haven't hung up a flag because I take my flag-flying seriously. That means I'd have to go out and raise the flag every day and then take it down every night.