Desecration of the Flag

One of the managers at my day job desecrated a flag yesterday.

I'm sure that he didn't mean to, but he did, just the same. What really gets my goat, I think, is that when I told some of the other managers to try to get it corrected, I got nothing but blank stares in response. Now bear in mind that these are all pro-Bush “If you ain't with us you're with the terrorists never burn a flag in my presence of I'll use my Constitutional right to bear arms to shoot you and if you think that Americans shouldn't be allowed to torture than you're not a real patriot” kind of people.

Obviously, patriotism no longer extends to knowing how to show proper respect to a flag.

I finally found one manager who listened to what I had to say, and he corrected it this morning. I think that what really made an impact on him was when I said that the way that they had the flag displayed “offended” me. I am NOT an easily offended person, so I think that he grokked the seriousness of it.

So, for both my liberal and conservative friends out there, here is how to show proper respect to the flag and how not to. This is not a comprehensive list, nor is it the “official” flag manual. It's simply some guidelines to follow, from what I remember in my days in ROTC.

1)It is not okay... EVER... to pierce the flag with anything. Staples, nails, tacks, all no-no's. If you want to display a flag on a wall, then buy a frame for it. Or, alternately...
2)It IS okay to display a flag banner-style, by putting something through the grommets on the back of the flag and hanging it so that the stripes point down.
3)It is NOT okay to allow the flag to touch the ground. The flags that we're selling at my day job are standard size parade flags, 3 X 5. One customer commented that she wanted a bigger flag. I WANTED to point out to her that your patriotism doesn't reside in the size of your flag, but instead simply pointed out that if she got one larger than five feet, odds are that, when hanging, the tip of the flag would rest on the ground, which is a no-no.
4)It is okay to fly the flag upside down when you are in distress. It is an internationally-recognized signal. This was also used by Viet Nam vets to protest the war... they felt that our nation was in distress.

What I didn't address above, but will quickly is the hot-button topic of the ULTIMATE desecration of the flag... burning. Personally, I could never burn a flag. It's simply not in me. According to the Flag Manual, burning is the only permissible way to destroy a flag. If a flag has been desecrated, or if it's going to be retired, you burn the flag in order to prevent it winding up in a landfill or as litter somewhere. There's a ceremony attached to this and it is not done lightly.

Burning the flag in protest is not something that I agree with. I think that the vet's method of flying the flag upside down is a much more appropriate, not to mention CLEAR protest of our nation's actions. HAVING SAID THAT... I will fight ferociously for your right to burn a flag if you feel that it is your last recourse of protest. I don't like it, but my like or dislike does not altar the fact that the first amendment guarantees your freedom of expression.

Peace.
Randal