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So last night one of the K9s on the Pittsburgh City Police force died after being stabbed by a criminal. Today, the Major ordered all city buildings to fly their flags at half-mast. I agree with the order because while the police officer that was killed walked on four legs, Rocco was still very much part of the force. I'm sure those of you that were MPs can echo that. However, it did strike up a conversation here at work that I thought I would expand to the audience here on RallyPoint.
Over the past few years, we have seen several famous people pass away. Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, more recently Pete Seegar, Eric Lawson (aka the Marlboro man) and many others. After some of these people passed away, the POTUS or other government officials have ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast.
My question to the RallyPoint members, are we giving the honor of having the flags dropped to half-mast away to many people? While I agree that first-responders, military, and government officials should be given this honor, I fail to understand why it would be dropped for anyone else outside of these roles.
Posted in these groups: 
Honor
American Flag
Honor American Flag
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 9
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I think now days we drop the flag far too often and that it is lessening the significance of our flag and its honors
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I agree. As a veteran, I also do not understand why Bruce Jenner is considered a hero
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I don't know why this came up in my feed now as no comments have been made recently on the subject, but...
....about a month ago at a local college a beloved former professor died. The story was all over the news, there were all kinds of tributes to him and campus wide memorials, including the President of the campus "ordering the lowering of the US flag on campus to half mast for the week" in mourning. I commented on the college Facebook page that a college president didn't have the authority to do so, and linked the regulation that stated who and when the flag could be lowered. Given the current social climate and lack of respect for tradition it wasn't surprising to be told by a student that the president had every right to do whatever he wanted on their campus, that the professor was loved by many and had made great contributions to the college and community so deserved the honor.
I disagree. The honor of the flag half mast should be only for military and government officials, and on official government holidays. There is a specific reason for this high honor, and diluting its meaning by using it for anyone or any event that a college professor, fire or police department, mayor or citizen feels is worthy degrades the honor for whom it was specifically meant. If they want an alternative they could consider lowering the state flag, school flag, business or institution flag instead. (I will admit as a private citizen I lower mine half mast sometimes even though it's not officially ordered by the President, as I did at the death of Sen. John Glenn, USMC recently.)
....about a month ago at a local college a beloved former professor died. The story was all over the news, there were all kinds of tributes to him and campus wide memorials, including the President of the campus "ordering the lowering of the US flag on campus to half mast for the week" in mourning. I commented on the college Facebook page that a college president didn't have the authority to do so, and linked the regulation that stated who and when the flag could be lowered. Given the current social climate and lack of respect for tradition it wasn't surprising to be told by a student that the president had every right to do whatever he wanted on their campus, that the professor was loved by many and had made great contributions to the college and community so deserved the honor.
I disagree. The honor of the flag half mast should be only for military and government officials, and on official government holidays. There is a specific reason for this high honor, and diluting its meaning by using it for anyone or any event that a college professor, fire or police department, mayor or citizen feels is worthy degrades the honor for whom it was specifically meant. If they want an alternative they could consider lowering the state flag, school flag, business or institution flag instead. (I will admit as a private citizen I lower mine half mast sometimes even though it's not officially ordered by the President, as I did at the death of Sen. John Glenn, USMC recently.)
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Way too often of late and it dilutes the purpose. The US flag should only be lowered at half staff by direction of POTUS and then only under a strict criteria. This should never happen for singers and actors, never.
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