The Flag of Death

The tradition of flying the flag at half-staff supposedly began in the 17th Century, when the crew of the Heart’s Ease lowered the ship’s flag to honor their captain, who had been killed during an expedition searching for the Northwest Passage through Canada.

There’s also a superstition that says the flag is lowered to make room for the invisible flag of death. Either way, the tradition caught on.

I was walking by P.S. 185 on Ridge Boulevard Thursday morning when I noticed the flag outside was at half-staff.

This was doubtless in response to the latest American mass shooting, where an armed psychotic blasted her way in The Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn. and gunned down three nine-year-old children and three adults before being killed by police.

The security footage of the school’s glass doors being shoot to pieces is horrifying to watch and it only gets worse as we see the killer stalking the hallways.

Investigators said the shooter, Audrey Hale, may have been planning to attack other locations.

As I passed P.S. 185, I thought the school might as well leave the flag in the half-staff position.

Why waste time and energy hoisting it back up when you’ll only have to lower it again for the next mass shooting…and the one after that…and the one after that?

America is in perpetual mourning as deranged people are allowed to get their hands on the most terrifying weapons and act out their violent delusions.

And it’s not going to change. There have been 130 mass shootings in America in 2023 and the year is only three months old.

'We're Not Gonna Fix it'

After last year’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Republican-led states around the country moved to loosen gun laws. One of those states was Tennessee.

After the Nashville shooting, Senator John Cornyn said Congress has “gone about as far as we can go” on gun legislation.

Congressman Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, sank even lower when he said, “if you think Washington’s gonna fix this, you’re wrong.”

"We're not gonna fix it,” he said. “Criminals are going to be criminals. My daddy fought the second world war against the Japanese and he told me, ‘buddy, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn't mind losing their life, there's not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’”

My father also fought in World War II. He would be horrified at how the country he risked his life for has failed its children so miserably.

When a reporter reminded Burchett that other countries don’t have these massacres, he said “they don’t have our freedom, either.”

Freedom? Having children gunned down is freedom? Conducting candle-light vigils and memorial services over and over is freedom?

Burchett, who supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election, was asked about protecting kids like his daughter.

“Well, we homeschool her,” he said.

But rest assured, Rep. Burchett does feel laws can fix something. Early in March he stridently supported a law restricting drag performances.

"A grown man dressed up like a woman should not be rubbing his crotch in front of a little child,” he said. “Good on Governor Bill Lee and our Tennessee legislature. The law goes into effect on July 1st. And dagnabbit, we don’t put up with that crap in Tennessee, and we shouldn’t.”

So, we’ll have more massacres, more rhetoric and no action. We’ll send thought and prayers, trade accusations, and do absolutely nothing.

Except lowering the flag to half-staff.