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Surprise Patriotism
Dec. 9th, 2011 01:01 amFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
We can't help it. We make too much of where we end and where others begin.
Yesterday, in the foyer at school, TPTB had national flags of the world hung from the ceiling. I noticed it in passing as I was leaving for the bus, and my brain frowned subconsciously when I looked up at the Union Flag. In the early hours of this morning I woke up in sudden realisation of why. They had hung the flag the wrong way up. It was upside down.
Of course wanting to make sure I got my facts right, I spent some time today checking on the internet that my suspicions were correct. They were, and not only was the flag in the foyer hung upside down, but the one they have flying from the flagpole outside the school is also being flown upside down.
I would never have pegged myself as someone so patriotic that such a thing would bother me, but actually, I got quite upset – and talked to Mark (my year 4 neighbour and 'kindred spirit'), and he also was upset. Together we marched downstairs to the Head of Primary to ask for the flags to be flown the right way, and were redirected to the Egyptian staff to make this happen.
There were many other staff members at the school who were also unaware of what was the correct way to fly the Union flag, (It's only called a Union Jack if it is flown from a mast of a ship, btw), and some of them were English. They were under the misapprehension that the flag is symmetrical – which it isn't. It is all to do with the width of the white diagonal stripe in the top left corner of the flag, the one above the red diagonal stripe. In the correct orientation, the wider white stripe should be uppermost. You can read about it all here, complete with images if you so desire.
In the meantime, I will wait and see what happens with the flags at school.
Take a pitcher full of water and set it down in
the water-now it has water inside and water
outside. We mustn't give it a name, lest silly
people start talking again about the body
and the soul.
--Kabir
We can't help it. We make too much of where we end and where others begin.
Yesterday, in the foyer at school, TPTB had national flags of the world hung from the ceiling. I noticed it in passing as I was leaving for the bus, and my brain frowned subconsciously when I looked up at the Union Flag. In the early hours of this morning I woke up in sudden realisation of why. They had hung the flag the wrong way up. It was upside down.
Of course wanting to make sure I got my facts right, I spent some time today checking on the internet that my suspicions were correct. They were, and not only was the flag in the foyer hung upside down, but the one they have flying from the flagpole outside the school is also being flown upside down.
I would never have pegged myself as someone so patriotic that such a thing would bother me, but actually, I got quite upset – and talked to Mark (my year 4 neighbour and 'kindred spirit'), and he also was upset. Together we marched downstairs to the Head of Primary to ask for the flags to be flown the right way, and were redirected to the Egyptian staff to make this happen.
There were many other staff members at the school who were also unaware of what was the correct way to fly the Union flag, (It's only called a Union Jack if it is flown from a mast of a ship, btw), and some of them were English. They were under the misapprehension that the flag is symmetrical – which it isn't. It is all to do with the width of the white diagonal stripe in the top left corner of the flag, the one above the red diagonal stripe. In the correct orientation, the wider white stripe should be uppermost. You can read about it all here, complete with images if you so desire.
In the meantime, I will wait and see what happens with the flags at school.
