flags

D & M wrote:
This started out with a question about a Canadian wanting to know if anyone would be offended if he displayed the flag of his country and it has turned into a an diatribe about whose flag is better than whose, complete with condescending insults from the flag regulation police, and even from people willing to fight over who can fly what flag when.

Now I know why the phrase "Ugly American' was coined. I wouldn't blame the OP for not even coming to the States.

And to top it off, you all won't even see this poor guys flag so that you can become outraged.

I was once a "ugly American", a military guest on assignment in foreign countries. A know it all, egotistical, young soldier who was full of false pride and what he thought was patriotism. And I carried this attitude proudly. By the time I was on my last military tour, I had earned a position of trust where I wore civvies as my uniform. I had to blend in with the local population and not my uniformed brothers. It was in this position where I was able to see my uniformed brothers at their finest and at their worst. And those at their worst were just like I had been. The hard part for me was seeing how many were that way. New young soldiers acting as if were were saving the whole world from evil forces. Acting as if our culture was the only right culture in the world. Acting as if we were the only true civilized people. Acting as if we knew what was best for the rest of the world. They had failed to realize that we were the guest in that foreign country, and I was able to witness it, and realize that I had been just like them, but my duties would no longer allow that part of me to exist. Patriotism is so much more than the American Flag.