Part Time Patriots
I walk through the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis, and recently while I was walking, I noticed the complete lack of U.S. Flags in the neighborhood. So the next time I walked, I decided to count the actual number of flags displayed, and the next time around I counted all the houses I could see, and the third time around I counted the number of non U.S. Flag banners displayed.
Now, I remember a few years ago, because of a tragic event, when you couldn’t turn around without seeing something draped in Red White and Blue, some inappropriately, yet you saw a lot of Red White and Blue. Children at Strawbridge were creating human flags on the playground, radio stations were sponsoring events at Mt Trashmore, etc…
The question also arises, why do we fly the flag. I was taught that we fly the flag, not only to honor our country, but primarily to honor those who have sacrificed everything, to give us the freedoms that we all enjoy today.
Solders raising the flag on Iwo Jima
U.S. Soldiers raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima.
WTC Flag Raising
New York Firefighters raising the flag at ground zero.
So the numbers, I pass by 140 houses when I walk, of the 140 houses that I pass, only 9 are flying U.S. Flag, and 8 are flying some kind of decorative banner.
