Better Than a Town Crier

Is it sad when I get my news from the state of the flags in front of the office building?

Walking through the big open mezzanine in front of the elevators, I glanced out the window as I usually do. I had to back up because my brain vaguely noticed the flags were at half-mast. The double-take confirmed, so I had to go find out what happened in the world that I had missed.

It makes me wonder how many people here don't even notice the state of the flags. OBC's company flag has been at half-mast for a while because we recently lost a valued long-time employee, but that was just our flag. This morning, it was all three: country, state, and company. When the country flag is at half-mast, something happened.

I often quote Paul Simon "I can gather all the news I need on the weather report" when talking of my take on news. While that's true, it seems I also get news from the position of the flag.