On Monday, December 7, Don Lugo’s flag was at half staff in memory of Pearl Harbor, but nothing was ever announced about it.

We had just come out of World War I, a war we had no business being in, and President Roosevelt had sworn to the country that we would not get involved in another European war. The Japanese decided they wanted to take us out before we even became apart of the problem and they bombed Pearl Harbor. The U.S. banded together more than ever before to join the war and take care of business.

December 7, 1941 was the first time the U.S had ever been attacked on American soil. It shocked the country and lit a fire under the nation. Is this not important enough to salute and show respect to?

The organization, Half Staff American Flag Notifications, dedicates their time to “providing accurate and timely information on property displaying the flag of the United States of America”, who base their notices by the Flag Code of the United States. They explain that, American flags are lowered at half staff when someone of importance dies or it is the anniversary of a tragic event, and that the flag is raised all the way up to the top of the pole and then lowered to the halfway point to symbol mourning and as a mark of respect to their memory. Flags flown at half staff are important and do not happen any day for any given reason.

According to Dr. Cabrera, we honor 9/11 with a flag at half staff and a moment of silence because it is a presidential order. It is deemed worthy of this recognition because of the mass amounts of lives that were lost and possibly the relevance to this generation. Some of us seniors here at Don Lugo even remember where we were and what we were doing at the time of the attack.

Does this mean that in 10-15 years schools won’t be asked to take the time to honor 9/11 either? Any event where American lives were lost due to an attack deserves to be honored with a moment of silence. So why is a flag lowered half way, without any amount of recognition or announcement, an honorary statement to the government?

Students didn’t even know the flag was at half mass, because no one says anything! The school is not told to ask us, as Americans, to show our respects to those that died, even for something as big as Pearl Harbor. Any day that earned a name because of its horror and impact on the country, such as Pearl Harbor, deserves honor and respect that is made known no matter what the relevance is. And according to the Flag Code, we should have flown the flag at half staff.