Flying the Flag

ONE OF MY NEIGHBORS, a brown skinned man from a foreign country with an accent, recently erected a flag pole in is front yard, atop which an American flag now flies. The flag flies twenty four seven, rain, snow, or shine. Is this proper and acceptable, or are there certain timew when protocaol requires lowering the flag, like at night, and during inclement weather? Either way, I don't care. I'm just happy to have a flag in the 'hood. The only one I have is tiny, about four by six inches, and flies proudly but smally above my fireplace. One wouldn't want too many glags in one's neighborhood. We certainly don't want the streets painted red, white, and blue. I wonder whether Russian aggression is fueling a wave of patriotism through America. Maybe my neighbor correctly assumes that the United States will be at war very soon. It is now, effectively. I have no plans to go to the trouble to try to tell h im that it isn't enough to simply put a pole in the ground, raise the flag, and leave it there, day and night, rain or shine. I'll let someone else do the work, and take the consequences. I'm afraid my neighbor might get mad at me, and besides, for all I know, it is now conisdered perfectly fine to leave the American flag out in the dark, or in wet weather. From my front yard I can see it plainly, and am glad of this; the positioning of the flag pole turned out to be perfect for me. I find myslef tampted to standat attention and recite the "pledge of allegience" every day while facing my neighbor's flag. Who knows, a new tradition might get started. At my local senior center we recite the "pledge of allegience" every day right before lunch, because several years ago I arranged to isntall this partiotic new tradition. Who knows; maybe I was destined to start a pledge of allegience tradition twice, in a single lifetime. The Pledge, like the National Anthem, is a relatively recent addition to American patriotic culture. Earlier forms circulated since the Civil War, but the plegd we use today was written by a minisiter, who also happened to be a self declared socialist, in 1892, and was adopted officially during world War Two. The phrase "under God" was not in the original version, but was added officially on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. Arguably, "under God" should not be in the pledge, since the plege hax been, since it became official, part of the government of the United States, which requires seperation of church, meaning religion, and state. Again, the point could be argued either way; that merely using the wrod "God" does not inherently endorse any particular religion or religion at all, but merelly affirms the existence of a supreme creator of the universe, including the United States of America. I'll give the matter more thought as I recite the pledge every day at sunrise, in my own front yard, standing at attention, facing the flag, right hand over heart.