Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Where have all the flags gone?

Remember after 9/11 when nearly everyone had those magnetic U. S. flags on their cars? Gradually, they disappeared. I was reminded of that brief period of fervent patriotism today when I saw an elderly lady driving by with one afixed to her vehicle. Other than rare exceptions like that, the rest have gone. I am curious as to what went through each individual's mind as he took the flag off of his car. Did some people make a conscious decision that they did not feel patriotic enough to display the flag? I realize that the national mood has changed greatly for some since those post 9/11 days when patriotism was cool, but I know many who are still proud to be American. Or did we just feel that the period of national mourning had gone on long enough? Or did some people simply remove them because they did not want to be the only person on the block with one left on? I ask, because, I am embarrassed to say, that I had never bought one (extremely tight budget at the time), and so never made the decision to remove one or keep one on my car.

1 comment:

Dan said...

You raise a good point here, and I'm sorry to say I don't have an answer. I do know that I am an Eagle Scout (class of '86), I've been a patriot all my life, and I don't need any national tragedy to proudly display a flag. I know how to properly fold a flag, I know proper flag ettiquette, and it's just a part of who I am that I love my country and love to display that symbol of our freedoms. I wish more people would display a flag for those kinds of reasons, rather than that it just happened to be "all the rage" for a little while.

Oh, and I lost my magnets, but it was a case of forgetting to take them off before going through the car wash. The guy at the car wash told me later he had hundreds of them at home that he had collected after work.