Thursday, February 12, 2009

Flag Watch, Day 1

This morning I had some appointments, and I wasn't able to eat or drink anything before I went. Afterwards, I was sort of hungry, so I drove through McDonald's to get chocolate chip cookies. I really wanted an Egg McMuffin, but they stop serving breakfast at 10:30, and by the time I finished up with everything it was almost 11:00.

As I sat in the drive-thru lane, I happened to glance up and saw three flags flying just as you pull in. One was a McDonald's flag (gee, that's a real surprise), another one was an Ohio flag (okay, that's good), and of course the third was an American flag.

Occasionally I can be rather opinionated, and what I saw really irked me. I only wish I would have had my camera with me, but unfortunately, I didn't see a need to take it on my various appointments.

The end of the flag was all tattered and looked really bad. Then as the wind continued to blow I could see that it was ripped, along one stripe, almost all the way to the opposite end!

Now come on...surely I can't be the only person in the community who has noticed this. Why would McDonald's NOT replace this flag?? According to proper flag etiquette, the American flag should be clean and repaired when necessary. And then when a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning it in a dignified manner.

The McDonald's flag and the Ohio flag looked okay, for what it's worth. I just may give them a call and ask them what their plans are for the American flag.

Now, I suppose it's entirely possible that the damage to the flag came from all the wind we had last night (possible, but not likely). Many people around here lost power (we didn't, thank goodness), and my school district had to cancel for the day because half of the buildings were without electricity. That's another day to make up at the end of the year. Oh well, there's nothing we can do about it, so we might as well enjoy our day off.

3 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

Matt and I are always annoyed by the flags we see that aren't being treated properly. I once saw a little tiny flag hanging outside of an apartment balcony. It was night and they had the flag properly lit. I was really impressed. Almost no one does that.

PERBS said...

I would have been upset also. Glad you are calling them about it. I can't believe you don't take your camera everwhere jsut in case. . .

Terre said...

Cindi the best thing you can do is not just call but contact your local American Legion and ask them to look into it. I can guarantee that results come quickly when someone in American Legion or VFW are contacted because it puts more umph to a request than one concerned citizen :o) Then you could be just like your friend Ter and write letter to the editor or put a buzz in a certain reporter's ear about doing an side article about businesses taking care of the American flag. You know I never do things in a small way. :o)