The Half-Staff American Flag Generation

It seems as if we’re entering into yet another new generation, the Half-Staff American Flag Generation.  This new generation began with a shock of sheer world-wide magnitude on September 11, 2001, and then slowly returned to apparent normal, only to inexorably grow in frequency, until now in 2013  our national flag flies almost constantly at half-staff.  Honoring our dead war heroes and dead victims of near countless natural tragedies and acts of sheer violence and terrorism, our flag hangs low - mourning, mourning and mourning again.

The list of life events is significant: 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, hurricanes & tornadoes, floods & earthquakes, Virginia Tech, Colorado theater shooting, Newtown, and now Boston.  Somber times - somber evidence. Our half-staff American Flag keeps reminding us, again and again.

Despite this now ever-present reminder, refuse to believe the future is as bleak and hopeless as it appears to paint itself, early in this 21st Century. Look beyond the half-staff flag and regard with a gaze of hope and wonder the overwhelming number of sincere helping hands and hearts who always – always - come to assist those in need.  Our video news world provides ample evidence of this, from the post-9/11 chaos images of people lending assistance, to the many natural disasters bringing out the best in the American Spirit with ready donations of food, shelter and medical aid as quickly as it can be assembled.  Our great city of Boston most recently exemplified the highest and best character of our many generations working together to help those in distress.

May God bless the indomitable American Spirit – the American Spirit that witnesses time after time these tragedies upon tragedies in both our homeland and abroad, only to rise up and offer the steady hand of help.  Yes, our flag is again lowered to half-staff, but the American Spirit chooses to stand tall – land of the free and home of the brave. Carpe diem.