I've been thinking about this flag a lot lately. I pass it every day on my way to and from work. It's looked bad since it was installed, to replace an also-far-beyond-worn-out flag. When it was first put up there, the bottom third of the flag was unsecured to the halyard--suggesting to me that the flag was larger than should be flown from this pole. It is never lit at night--something strictly against all flag display protocols I've ever read.
I see a lot of flags that are torn, faded, or otherwise flown incorrectly. I can only imagine that the people responsible for displaying said flags consider themselves patriots. I'm not here to question their patriotism--I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that. Leaving a beat-up, torn, faded flag aloft is terribly disrespectful, in my opinion, and far from patriotic. A quick dip into the pool of google yielded a short list of rules regarding flag display, and this one is wrong on several counts.
Yet, I find this one a bit symbolic for our time. As we reach election day 2010, we have a society divided by rhetoric and vitriol--rent, if you will, by discord. Much of the angry verbiage seems to come from folks who mistake angry diatribes from giving enough of a shit to do something productive about their gripes, or perhaps who at some level realize that doing something productive would mean that they could no longer gripe.
If you have a flag aloft, please have a look at it. If it's worn, frayed, torn or faded, please replace it. Offer it to a VFW post or Scout troop for proper retirement.
Speaking of proper retirement, I find it ironic that "proper retirement" typically involves a ritual burning of worn-out flags. Far more flags are burned in this manner than are burned in protest of our country and its principles, yet mention burning a flag and see what kind of vitriol spews from self-proclaimed patriots sitting near you.
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