Half-Staff Flag for Dead Student UNJUSTIFIED!
An open letter to the Principal of The Local High School
(Written in response to actual events. The letter has been "fictionalized," but you'll get the point.)
November 2004
Dear Principal,
As a former US Marine (1972-1975), I was appalled to read an article recently in the local newspaper that involved the death of one of your students. Part of that article read as follows:
The American flag will fly at half-staff outside The Local High School tonight. The football team will take the field for their playoff game wearing black armbands with their classmate's initials added to their green-and-white uniforms. ...The 16 year old student was driving east on Some Country Road, just west of Rt. 666, about 7:35 a.m. on Wednesday when she lost control of her car on a curve, went over an embankment on the south side of the road and crashed into a tree, the State Highway Patrol said.
Sir, I have to assume you were involved in condoning this display in one way, shape, or form, as you are the high school's principal. With all due respect, extrapolating from what I read, I also have to conclude that your knowledge of the US Flag Code and why we fly half-staff flags is lacking. Here is a brief overview:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/halfstaf.htm
I understand how this young person's accident has touched many of your students, faculty, and friends, but especially her family. The armbands were a touching gesture, and very appropriate. In dealing with any such event, a planned moment of silence, a word from the principal on the school intercom, or an assembly to remember the person are all appropriate, too, but the half-staff flag for this 16 year old was not called for and it was inappropriate. Such casual acts diminish the meaning of why we fly the United States flag at half staff.
Veterans Day is November 11. Will your school lower the state and US flags to half staff? If your students asked, how could you explain that any of them deserve the high honor of a half-staff flag—basically the equivalent of a 21-gun salute—as much as anyone who has served their country, especially in time of war, and who might have died for us and our freedom? And why, less than one week before Veterans Day, would you bestow upon a young person who lost control of her car and died in a tragic (and possibly preventable) car accident an honor that, according to the US Flag Code, can only be ordered by The President of the United States?
The mixed messages we send are why few, including our children, know how to display the flag anymore. The honor of a half-staff flag was not designed to be a casual reaction to someone's death. Its use is outlined in the Flag Code, a part of the larger US Code, which consists of laws, not guidelines or suggestions. The fact that no one is called to task for violating these flag-related laws is no excuse; they are on the books, and need to be followed by everyone. How we use or abuse the flag is not up for discussion.
I respectfully ask that you do your part to stop this practice in the future by recommending that your educators and local civic leaders brush up on the US Flag Code. Please do your best to suggest to anyone proposing a half-staff flag that there are other ways to honor and remember a departed loved one, ways that are more appropriate, more meaningful, and not disrespectful to our flag. Please try to educate your students with regards to respect for the flag rather than allow disrespectful acts that, by law, are illegal. While it is laudable to want to remember a student or other civilian whose passing has touched many lives, there are better ways to express the overwhelming grief that arises at such times.
While my thoughts are with the young person's family and friends in this sorrowful time, the "feel good" custom of half-staff flags for everyone is demeaning and insulting to the men and women who have served in the armed forces of the United States, but especially to the memory of those who have died for our country and its flag.
Semper Fi.
Respectfully Submitted,
MetalMan
Additional reference sources you may find valuable or might want to pass along to the less-enlightened among us:
Veterans Day: http://www1.va.gov//vetsday/
Celebrating America's Freedoms: http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/index.htm
