Big Y flag today
The flags originally came down to half staff for a damn good reason, honoring Marine Captain Richard W. Vincent on the day he was buried in his home city of Westfield after laying hidden where he fell on the island of Tarawa over 70 years ago.
Post Office on University Drive (next door to Big Y) today
So I feel a little guilty pointing this out, but the Governor's half staff order was only supposed to be from "sunrise to sunset Thursday, July 2."
Post Office town center today
Having the flags down at half staff on July 4th (which of course all of these were) kind of sends the wrong message. Like flying the flag upside down.
And the longer you fly them at that somber position of mourning, the more average people will start to tune out the real meaning. That too is sad.
UMass Amherst, the flagship of higher education
Update: One of my more sagacious readers pointed out the flags are down for State Senator Thomas Kennedy, ordered so back on June 29 by the Governor "until interment," which apparently is tomorrow.
Of course now I wonder how the Governor ordered the flags down to half-staff on July 2 for Captain Vincent when they were in fact already down for State Senator Kennedy.
4 comments:
I believe they are supposed to be down until Senator Thomas P Kennedy's internment on Tuesday.
That's the thing about orders from your leaders, you simply follow them.
The alternative would be a free society and Amherst of all places knows that is not appropriate.
Agreed though, when something happens all the time, it is not special and does not stand out. Like overspending on things like education locally. Even more important than flying the flag at half staff less often is having leaders that do not waste the lives of our soldiers for their personal economic or political gain, as many seem to. Having better leaders involves picking better leaders, something America is not that good at (see folks like Obama, Bush, Patrick, Amherst Select Board, etc.)
When you have an economy that is geared to war and the profit derived therefrom, it will take more than leaders to stop the squandering of the lives and limbs of our soldiers. It will take a transformation of that economy such that profit comes from creating and repairing instead of destroying. It will also take a broader definition of profit that includes the quality of life of our people and the quality of the environment. We get the leaders we elect. Time to change us so that we will make better choices. That takes a new vision.
Therefrom? So to you , it's never about anything else, eh? War is about profit? It could never be about defending others?
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