Putting a Flag at Half-Mast

So I was on Facebook Monday and my friend posted a status saying “thoughts on having flags at half-mast for Japan today?” and I knew this would be my blog for the week.  I waited until the day today to post my blog just so I could see how people responded.  Well, first of all, I just want to make it clear that the flags were NOT at half-mast on Monday due to the disasters in Japan, they were at half-mast to honor the passing of the World War I veteran, Frank W. Buckles.  And I found that on the Missouri Office of Administration’s website http://oa.mo.gov/fmdc/flagnotifications.htm  But some of the responses to this friend’s status include “What are we supposed to think about it? There are thousands of people dead and thousands more missing, we should be in mourning as human beings” or “I was wondering why they were like that today. I think it's good. People loving and caring for other people... the way the world was meant to be” along with “I also didn't mean to suggest that I don't care about the people involved in this disaster. I'm not at all saying that showing compassion for other human beings is bad. All I'm saying is that it sets a precedent. Anytime any country has a national disaster or war or really any kind of humanitarian crisis the U.S. should fly the flag at half-mast. To do otherwise would leave us open to accusations of favoritism” or even “it’s called the AMERICAN flag...not the world flag.”  The reason I chose this is I would like to see how people respond.  How do you feel (if it were the case) that America put their flags at half-mast for a disaster in another country???

My first thought, no.  I do not feel that putting an AMERICAN flag at half-mast would mean anything to the Japanese or any other country for that matter.  I mean, I totally understand wanting to honor and respect someone injured or lost but personally, I feel that doing something like that should be for Americans.

I know, I know, this really makes me sound like I’m some cocky, insensitive American girl who only thinks about her country and not others.  But here is the deal.  I feel like we need to invent a different way to acknowledge crises in other countries but still be able to have our own acknowledgement for Americans.  I am not saying that we should not acknowledge others but I feel like every country should have their own special way to acknowledge their country members and then a way to acknowledge those from other countries.   I feel like if we use the flag at half-mast for our citizens, that there be another form of recognition for people from other countries.  I’m not sure if it would be feasible or not but I think it is really something to consider.