A Few Words on Flag Etiquette
|
|
I bid
you welcome gentle readers, and sincerely hope that none of you got blown away
in that Las Vegas wind/rain/sand storm on Sunday. The vortex theory never had a
chance against that evil display by Mother Nature. We at home were treated to
several short but rather amusing videos of things and people losing orientation
and grip… canopies leaving for parts unknown, umbrellas turning inside out and
defying a return to normal… even crews were cautioned not to sit on the pit
wall because if the wind blew them off on the track side, it would constitute a
penalty for too many men over the wall. Then, of course, there was Michael Waltrip’s hair, which will be left without comment.
Every
driver and crew member interviewed marveled at the strength and force of the
ubiquitous wind that covered the entire area from green flag to checkered flag…
and even to American flag. Ah, do you think you know where this is going? Please
read on, as you might be mistaken.
It was
brought to my attention after Sunday’s race by a sweet young girl that some
folks on Twitter were all “atwitter” and had their knickers in a knot because
race winner, Brad Keselowski, to their way of thinking somehow disrespected the
American Flag. To those tweeting twits, I’d like to simply say, “Get over it.”
Your protests are weak, baseless and less than bright.
The
following comes from the American Legion website, http://www.legion.org/flag/faq
“The Flag Code
states that the flag should not touch anything beneath it, including the
ground. This is stated to indicate that care
should be exercised in the handling of the flag, to protect it from
becoming soiled or damaged. You are not required to destroy the flag when this
happens. As long as the flag remains suitable for display, even if washing or
dry-cleaning is required, you may continue to display the flag as a symbol of
our great country.”
That’s
it, gentle readers. The flag code does not deal with nor does it suggest
punishment for accidents caused by man or the elements. When Brad took the
American flag, he secured it in a holder within the car that has been used on
many occasions for just such a purpose. That is certainly “exercising care” in this
aged mind. Many teams have those holders, as they allow the driver to use two
hands on the steering wheel while the flag flies freely out the window.
Conditions
on Sunday were like no other in the history of NASCAR racing, or so we’re told.
I wasn’t here for quite all of it… at least at an age when I was going to
races. The holder that had always before held the flag securely was weakened by
the force of the wind and the flag fell to the track behind the car. The
driver, Brad Keselowski, immediately slammed on his brakes, stopped the car,
unhooked his belts and HANS, removed his steering wheel and alighted from the
car on a dead run back to retrieve the flag and save it from further abuse.
Almost
simultaneously, the Twitter birds began to tweet about disrespecting the flag,
and I can only suppose some or most of that was done in the usual 4-letter
words and abusive style employed by Twitter trolls, many of whom are the same
nasty little troll-like characters that infect a large number of the posting boards
and forums that populate today’s Internet.
What,
exactly, would you have wanted Brad to do when faced with the situation? A part
failed! It happens in racing, and it happens in life. I love the answer that
Brad gave to one of the tweeting twits whose words had been erased by Twitter.
“The apology is stopping right-a-way and picking it up.” That sort of makes one
wonder what the twit was demanding. Was he supposed to fling himself down on
the ground and await the stoning? Brad Keselowski did absolutely nothing wrong
regarding the American flag. In fact, he did everything right. He retrieved the
errant flag from the grips of Mother Nature and returned it to its proper
position of respect.
I can’t
prove this, but every grey cell in my brain is telling me that the folks coming
down on Brad for his supposed “disrespect” are a lot of the same folks that
loudly applaud the lack of talent and complete lack of respect for America
evinced by past graduates of “The Voice”, “American Idol” and such, while
offering badly butchered “renditions” of our National Anthem almost weekly. Memorial
Day will be here soon enough, and we’ll be once again be featuring my tale of
the birth of the “Star Spangled Banner” and pleading with NASCAR to take a hand
and assure that our flag and nation are no longer disrespected by talent… or
lack thereof.
As
Porky Pig would say, “Th-that’s all folks!” We won’t
be doing a Classic Country Closeout today, as this column is an “extra”, but I
do have one song that is a long-time favorite and always deserves a listen.
This is Johnny Cash, offering you “Ragged OId Flag.”
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay
