THE VigilanceVoicev 

Dec. 30—Sunday—Ground Zero Plus 110

THE LONELIEST FLAG
by
Cliff McKenzie
Editor, New York City Combat Correspondent News

Flags can be lonely too.
            Sometimes, they fly in the face of Complacency—one, alone, flapping in the wind of Indifference, Neglect, Forgetfulness.
            As I walk around New York City, my Kodak digital camera hungers for the “perfect shot.”   Sometimes it is one of happiness and joy, other times it seeks out the sad, the lonely, the disenfranchised.
            Lately, I’ve been compelled to shoot pictures of American Flags flying in honor of September 11.   One day, unfortunately, the flags of respect will desiccate, crumble away like the leaves of seasons, washed from the windows and buildings by Time’s relentless tides, sucking away the memory of September 11^th as a dominant theme, burying it in the crust of the future as Pearl Harbor and other tragic events of American vulnerability have been put to rest.
            But there will always be the one Lonely Flag that will fly in remembrance.   It will be flown by the last person driven to remember to “never forget.”
            Yesterday, I ran across the symbol of such a flag.
            It was a huge apartment complex, with hundreds of windows in the heart of the East Village and relatively close to the epicenter of Nine Eleven.
            I saw the one flag flapping from the window.
            I heard it calling to me—Semper Vigilantes—Semper Vigilantes—Always Vigilant—Always Vigilant.
            So I captured it on film.
            I wanted to remember not to forget.
            I wanted to know the Lonely Flag had a friend.
        And that I had not forgotten to remember. 
     And that I hoped I never would.