Flying the flag at half-mast...

It's always been a tradition to fly the American flag at half-mast on certain days of the year, including for sad events like the death of a National leader, or a tragic event.

I think though that since September 11, 2001...this tradition has been perverted from what it was originally intended. I think that since 9/11, the flag has been flown at half-mast more times than it probably had my entire life leading up to 9/11.

Across from where I work, there is flying one of the largest U.S. flags in the nation. Sometimes it seems like every other day, it's flying at half-mast. It usually takes half a day or more to find out "why" it's flying at half-mast. It's been flown at half-mast for airliner crashes, school shootings, the death of a former Governor...and countless other reasons. The problem is, when you start flying the flag at half-mast for just about every tragedy under the sun, it begins to mean very little. Lately, I've begun to wonder why they don't just leave the American flag at half-mast...it seems to spend more time there than flying proudly like it's supposed to. Of course with the President that we presently have, the Senators and House Representatives that we've recently elected into power, maybe the flag should be flown at half-mast all the time!