It matters today....

I was late, my usual 2-5 minutes late for work every day. When you have to punch a goddammed time-clock, they notice. But this morning I saw that something was wrong. There is a flag outside my building, and I usually park right in front of it. I got out of my car and stared at it for a moment- it wasn't flying at half-staff. I went in and saw Dr. S. I asked him "who does the flag- shouldn't it be at half-staff today?" He says "Oh yeah, I think you're right, Dr. R. is in charge of the flag." I looked around for Dr. R., but he's off today. I go to the boss-lady (she hates me, by the way). I mention the flag, and she says "no, I don't think so, I haven't heard that we're supposed to, or that we have a policy about it."
I spend the rest of the morning feeling awful. I don't know why it felt so important to me. I don't care about politics. I don't know anyone who died on 9/11. I've never even been to New York. But it seemed so disrespectful not to have the flag at half-staff today, and it really bothered me. I was embarrassed at my company's insensitivity.
When I went out at lunchtime, however, I was relieved to see that the flag had finally been fixed. For some reason, I drove several extra blocks out of my way to go home for lunch, past the school, past the state office building, past the McDonalds even, to see their flags. It felt really important to me today. Sigh...

-Julie