MEMORIAL DAY TRAVEL : BEAT UP AMERICAN FLAGS STILL FLYING OVER MADE IN THE USA CAR DEALERSHIPS

The Memorial Day weekend was glorious.


We decided to spend most of our time at home, but we were also hoping to visit a veteran we know who had recently been admitted to the closest VA hospital. Sadly, we were informed that he didn't want any visitors. Our friend is a senior citizen now and we had to respect his wishes that he only wanted his closest family near him. We knew he was depressed about his own condition as well as the condition of the United States and the younger veterans he was meeting there. We wished there were something we could say or do that could lift him out of the depression he's feeling.


So we decided to do something really old fashioned, something people used to do when gas prices were so low that fun meant cruising the boulevards, showing off your car, and meeting up with friends. We decided to drive around with nowhere in particular to go. We drove right up the boulevard where there are numerous car dealerships in our town, and what we saw were a lot of shiny, bright, new cars, each with two small new American flags attached to the front doors, and a big flag blowing in the wonderful breeze, faded and torn to shreds, not because it had made it through a historic battle, but because WHEN IT COMES TO USING THE AMERICAN FLAG TO MARKET CARS the flags are new, but when it comes to hoisting a flag that is the symbol of our country, of which we are proud, a flag we salute, there's apparently nothing wrong with shabby.

WE HAD TO WONDER IF THE DEALERSHIP EVEN TAKES IT DOWN EACH NIGHT the way public libraries do, for if anyone did that, surely they would notice it's faded and shredded. At our local public library an employee who is slow is assigned to raise and take down the flag each day, and he does so with reverence and proper folding technique so how difficult can it be?


Later we talked some young veterans who had noticed that same flag. One was of Mexican American background and the other of Armenian American background. They both said how sad that was and put down greed and materialism.


We would rather companies who do not respect our flag NOT FLY IT!
And we sincerely hope the next flag they raise will not be that of China!