Ad Wavers This Sunday afternoon a couple of pleasant enough folks came down the sidewalk, poking a little plastic U.S. flag into every yard along the way.
It being the eve of the 9/11 anniversary and having seen the same just before July 4th, I wasn't surprised that each flag included a card for a real estate firm. A little public service from a local business; a touchstone for our collective memory. Hardly.
As with so many of this week's television specials, pull-out sections, and keepsakes, this is yet another case of commerce masquerading as public service. What seems almost innocuous at first glance looks way different on second thought. I mean, what's wrong with passing around a few flags?
But consider how the real estate office might feel if someone went through the neighborhood, left all the flags in place but carefully removed every single one of the attached business cards. Would the real estate folks still be pleased? The flags, the "public service," would be still be there come Wednesday morning.
No. The real estate folks' not-so-subtle aim isn't distributing flags, it's getting credit for distributing flags. And maybe, somewhere down the road, a few homeowners might give them a wee bit of business. Put it that way and Sunday's flag planting seems not just hamhanded but downright craven.
As the tsunami of the anniversary hits, maybe we should apply the same filter and screen out the events that beg for recognition of their selfless public service. Whether its little business cards stapled to flags, corporate logos tucked tastefully across the bottom of the screen, or a government that protects constitutional rights by reducing them, beware those who would take credit when it's not due.
Instead, post your own flag in your own physical or metaphysical yard to mark this week. Then take a moment--or a day, a week, or a lifetime--away from approving public gaze to mark 9/11 and honor the thousands who died through no fault of their own.
2:38:51 PM 
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