Today is Flag Day in the States. Traditionally, this holiday is just one of the many obsevances that doesn’t garner a day off of work, so it passes quietly.
I did some brief looking around and found a couple of sites on flag etiquette, specifically looking for information regarding the burning of flags, which it seems is entirely appropriate for flags that are to be retired. There is a whole ceremony that should be performed and everything - your local American Legion, VFW, or Boy Scout troop should be able to help you retire your old flags. Today would be a great day to do that.
Some other crazy things I found interesting about the US flag, some of which I already knew:
- There is a whole compicated set of regulations on how to display the flag, including what orientation the flag must have if it is hanging above a street, and in which direction the flag must be hoisted if you raise it out a window.
- Flags that are dirty or have touched the ground need not be burned, but simply washed with soap and put back into service.
- You are not supposed to carry the flag flat, but always hanging.
- There is a whole order of precedence for raising flags of different kinds, not just what position they take on adjacent flag poles, but the order in which they must be put up and then taken down again.
- There are only 8 places where the flag is allowed to be displayed 24 hours (at night) without illumination.
- You aren't supposed to make clothing with flags on it, or produce a product that is designed to be discarded (like a stamp) with a flag on it.
As far as burning flags in protest is concerned, I don’t see any specific mention of not doing it, but you have to consider that doing so is a horrid disrespect to the flag. If you’re going to protest the government or country’s position on anything, it had better be something good if you’re going to defile everything else that the flag has represented over the years.
I’ve always been of the opinion that one of the things that the flag itself stands for is the freedom to burn it. I don’t believe that every cause is serious enough to do such a thing, but I can think of a few in recent memory. Specifically, I would allow those instances where the freedom and sacrifice that the flag represents would be curtailed or disrespected.
