U.S. flags require respect, not just routine treatment

Bill Knight column for 6-17, 18 or 19, 2019

Friday was Flag Day, which caused me to double-check my recollection that the Chicago Cubs’ home opener at Wrigley Field on April 8 committed a blunder in an extravagant stunt where dozens of people marched onto the field and unfurled an enormous U.S. flag, held flat, as the National Anthem was performed.

The United States Flag Code – a federal law that 96 years ago last week enacted rules for the proper and acceptable display and care of the flag – states, “The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.”

On June 14, 1923, the first guidelines about the U.S. flag were approved by Congress after dozens of organizations (including the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Boy Scouts, Knights of Columbus, and the American Library Association) helped draft language. The groups agreed that the U.S. flag is a symbol representing a nation, a vibrant country, a living entity, and therefore must be honored as a living thing.

Besides enthusiastic patriots, equally eager protestors – of various points of view – surely must recognize its value in order for any flag-focused demonstration to have an impact.

Most Americans are familiar with a few provisions. It’s common knowledge that the U.S. flag should never touch the ground – or anything beneath it. It should never be used for commercial/advertising purposes, and never displayed upside down unless it’s purposefully used as a sign of danger or distress. And it must be exhibited to the right of any other flag or in front of the center of a line of other flags.

Maybe less appreciated is that U.S. flags don’t last forever and must be accorded suitable disposal. When a flag becomes worn and tattered, it’s no longer considered an appropriate emblem and should be destroyed with dignity and replaced. (Groups such as the VFW and Scouts conduct occasional ceremonies to discard such flags, usually by burning them.)

There are common mistakes, too:

* The flag shall be displayed only from sunrise to sunset on flagstaffs, in the open, unless illuminated. (A congressional report on this aspect of flag treatment states: “It would seem that display of the flag in a disrespectful manner with appropriate lighting does not violate the spirit of the Flag Code since the dignity accorded to the flag is preserved by lighting that prevents its being enveloped in darkness.”)

* “When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender,” the federal law states, adding

* “The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.”

Of course, whether people are unaware, unthinking or even intentionally rude, improper (arguably illegal) exhibition of the U.S. flag violates etiquette more than statute since for decades no one’s enforced its penalty: “Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon any flag of the United States shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.”

In a couple of weeks, the 4^th of July will have more flags than fireworks. It’d be nice if they were in good shape, taken down when Independence Day becomes night, and not left out in the rain.