Wednesday, April 17, 2013

How many more times....

.... will we have to think about this?





The view yesterday morning outside the ROTC building on campus. I actually wondered for a brief moment why the flag was lowered.











 ETA: It occurred to me that my post may have sounded rather callous. It wasn't. Allow me to explain. As you may imagine on a campus this size we have US and state flag poles all over the place (along with the requisite Nittany Lion). The featured flag standards are outside the administration building, which I'm sure most of you saw on a daily basis about 18 months ago . Some time ago walking down the mall on campus, I noticed those flags at half staff. I was puzzled.  After a little research I found that our Governor will occasionally declare a day in honor of a state resident military person who lost  his/her life while serving. All the flags in the state are lowered to half staff for that day. I don't know how these individuals are chosen for the honor, nor how often it happens, but I think it is a lovely gesture. So momentarily on Monday, I wondered whose "day" it was. Unfortunately, the reality was truly much more grim.

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