A New Normal...?

A few weeks ago I went for a little walk and I snapped a couple of pictures of American flags flying at half-staffed. I work close to several government office buildings and each one had a flag, each flag not raised to the top of the flagpole.

And it made me think--is this the new normal?

I posted the picture as my Pic Of The Day with the caption that it seems like a half-staffed flag was the new normal. Many people responded saying they wondered the same thing. I actually had this same thought a couple of years ago. There was a time when the country experienced several disasters and the flag never seemed to go to the top, or if it did, another event caused it to come back down.

Since we live in a world where news is instantaneous. We can literally watch news as it happens anywhere in the world. I doubt there's more atrocities now than there has been before. People have a history of treating each other badly. It's just that now, we can see it, see how tragedies affect people. We can hear their voices, see their pain.

I'd like to think this isn't the new normal, but it may be. And if that happens, it would make me sad. Let's pray it's not.