After the Virginia Tech shootings of last week, the President issued an executive order for all flags to be flown at half staff. This order can be given by the President at any time of national grieving and has been proclaimed most recently after such awful events as Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. This is done in a respectful manner and I believe it is an appropriate way to symbolically remember and honor those fellow citizens lost. As the Virginia Tech shooting was the worst such incident of violence in our nation's history, it obviously warrants such an honor.

With that said, however, this angry soldier's comments got me thinking yesterday. Why do we not fly the flag at half staff for the soldiers who die almost every day in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why do we not get an in-depth expose into their lives and their friends and their families like we are getting about the victims of the VT shootings? Why did the President say at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this weekend, "In light of this tragedy at Virginia Tech, I decided not to be funny.", but had no problem the last 4 years being funny and even joking about "Where are the WMDs?" while our soldiers were dieing every day. The list of hypocrisies goes on and on.

Of course we couldn't logistically fly the flag at half staff for every soldier who was died in the past few years in these senseless wars, nor have we done so for soldiers who have died in wars past. If we did so, the flag would not have moved from the half staff position for over 4 years now. But, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing? Maybe we need a daily reminder of the human sacrifices that are being made in the name of..well, in the name of what? Maybe we should view these soldiers who have died, not as daily numbers, but as fathers and sons and mothers and daughters, just as we view the victims on the VT shootings. Just yesterday, 9 soldiers were killed in a suicide truck bomb in Iraq. I am sure some of those soldiers had kids, wives, husbands, moms and dads who's lives will never be the same.

So, while the flags fly at half staff for the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings; I will remember them and honor them, but I will also be thinking of the other victims of senseless violence and death.

Thanks for reading...