Flying the flag at half-mast for days or weeks at a time.
I think flying the flag at half-mast is a tremendous honor. If it is done to pay respect to someone who has died I think three days is the maximum and should be reserved only for people at the highest tier of national importance. I think one day should be the norm. Supreme court justice dies of old age, one day. The wife of the guy who was president five presidents ago, one day. If the death is shocking and constitutes a national tragedy then lower the flag for three days.
If the flag is lowered for a national tragedy that involves significant loss of life then I believe the maximum should be one week. And it should only remain lowered as a sign that the nation is in mourning. If the tragedy is something that we take note of and move on with our lives as normal then it should only be lowered for one to three days.
After the attacks in Paris I think the flag was lowered for a couple weeks. I'm glad we showed our respect and our solidarity with the people of France. I think three days was adequate.
I get that this is really not an important issue. But it is a huge pet peeve of mine. I feel that lowering the flag for any old unfortunate occurrence diminishes the significance of the act. Leaving it lowered for an excessive amount of time diminishes the significance. It seems we're getting to the point where we might as well just leave the flag at half-mast permanently. If more than 10% of the time the flag is being flown at half-mast it really doesn't mean anything. We could just make flagpoles half as tall and save ourselves the trouble.
Good post and I agree completely.