I don’t know if it’s a lack of education or just a product of a poor one, but the number of people out there flying the Canadian flag inappropriately is breath-taking. I’m not counting the Trump-pumping, convoy-loving malcontents that display the flag as a protest symbol in this criticism. Those people are too far down their rabbit holes to be appealed to about anything. Likewise, those flakes that think they’re patriotic Canadians and that anyone disagreeing is treasonous? They’re not part of today’s thing either.
Today it’s about people who fly Canadian flags that, maybe not intentionally making a protest point, nevertheless do not give the national flag the respect and decorum it’s entitled to and ought to be expected when coming from assumed well-meaning people.
Take these two flags on Gillan Road in Horton Township. I drive by this location almost every day and have noted these flags, mostly because they were the two along the road that had been flying properly. There are/were other flags along Gillan, but I feel they may belong to adherents of the malcontents, and plus they’re gone now, which is good because they were in tatters.
The one person I’ll at least give props to for having the flag at half-mast, I assume in honour of the late prime minister Brian Mulroney. This flag had been flying above a Remembrance flag since November, but the Remembrance banner is still up. And the Canadian flag, hanging limply above it, is now in disrepair. The flag being at half-mast indicates to me that the owner knows a thing or two about flag etiquette and actually gives a shit. Maybe he just hasn’t had the time to realize the condition of the Canadian flag and do something about it. Maybe he’s a snowbird wintering in Sunny Florida. Whoever it is, they respect things enough to lower the flag to half-mast, in honour of Mulroney, but there goes the snowbird theory. At any rate, I hope this is fixed at some point, because this person has done nothing but honour Canada and the national flag, or at least so it seems.
The second person flies a Canadian flag from a pole correctly, but then allows it to be weathered to the point where a full panel is now gone, leaving only the maple leaf and the right-side banner, both badly faded. It looks like something you’d see on a fort of some sort that’s on its last legs and has been pounded into submission. A plucky little flag demonstrating the resolve of those within. Except Gillan Road is not a battle zone, so this flag has fallen into disrepair either through neglect or inconvenience.
It’s sort of like getting a dog. Be prepared to do the work and take on the responsibility for taking care of it if owning a puppy is that important to you. If you’re not up for that responsibility, don’t get the dog. Flags are the same. If you’re going to get one, take on the responsibility of treating it properly. If not, don’t fly one.
Flags are symbols that make a statement. So when you’re putting one up, what’s your statement? Are you a proud Canadian? An angry Canadian? A shit-disturbing Canadian? An ignorant Canadian?
At one time, respecting the flag was not much of an issue, but now it most certainly is. With all the yahoos flying flags as an anti-government, anti-Liberal, anti-Trudeau statement, I don’t know who’s who these days.
And sadly, yet justifiably, I fear the worst.
By the way, the folks at Edward Jones took down their Canadian flag that was draped under one of their office windows for too long, dirty, damaged, and disrespected in what I suspect was a shout-out to the local fringe crowd. To the credit of head office, the flag was removed the day after an email was sent to them asking for them to clarify their position with respect to the flag. Head office also sent me a return email informing me of this decision, so good on them for the swift action.
To whoever put it up in the first place, my regrets that the Canadian studies education you received, and the joke Civics course you took in high school, were not up to the test of keeping you grounded in the facts of what it means to be a good citizen.
Perhaps our children will do better?
NEWSMAGRENFREW 