Do Flag Displays Show Our True Colors?

I went outside to get the mail from my curbside mailbox this afternoon, and a woman I didn’t know in a pickup truck was calling to me from the street. She pulled over, got out of her truck and hugged me with tears in her eyes, thanking me for having both the American and Earth flags displayed on our deck railing.

I told her I didn’t want the American flag to be appropriated by those who would only have us go to war, that I wanted to acknowledge my citizenship in the U.S. as well as on Earth. “Isn’t it ironic,” she said, “that the reason all this has happened is because we don’t realize we are all one.”

Mary Ann Percy

Solana Beach

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Flags, flags everywhere. This is not a Lakers, Sparks, Galaxy or Dodgers game. Our fight against terrorism is not merely a spectacle to watch on television and root for a “winner.” This is war. I wonder if those who have clipped American flags to their cars fully realize the implication of what that means. I wonder if they will be willing to participate in the war by signing up to fight in Afghanistan.

As our fight against Osama bin Laden and his terrorist cells continues, most likely for years, will Americans still wave flags from their vehicles? Or will we see more and more small flags on the side of the freeway, gathering dust and grime from the passing cars?

Francien Rohrbacher

Los Angeles