Hospital Supervisor in Mansfield Asked to Remove American Flag

Debbie McLucas, a hospital supervisor in Kindred hospital in Mansfield hung an American flag in her shared office to commemorate Memorial Day. When McLucas returned to work the Friday before, her flag had been taken down and put on the floor. When she asked her supervisor about it, she was told it offended a fellow supervisor who was originally from Africa, but had been in the US for 14 years. Hospital big-wigs told her that others had also complained. Currently, McLucas has a daughter serving in Iraq and both her husband and sons are former military.

In a United States that supposedly supports the freedom of speech and expression, why was McLucas the only one penalized for showing support for her country? Was the offended supervisor punished for getting into her co-workers things? Did the offended supervisor have any repercussions for taking it upon herself to remove the flag? The unnamed offended party not only broke personal etiquette, but also flag etiquette. It says in the American Flag Code that "The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise."

I wonder too, if the unnamed offender would be offended herself if she displayed an African flag and found someone had put it on the floor. Do other countries not have the same pride that America does? Does the unnamed offender not realize that the American flag represents the country that she has been allowed to live in with all of the freedoms America does allow?

There seems to be a double standard. Is this taking "political correctness" to a whole new level? And one more thing; Memorial Day is meant to honor the lives of soldiers lost in the pursuit of American freedom, but when those freedoms are taken away, is it all for nothing?

I, for one, salute Mrs. McLucas. Not only is she standing up for her freedoms, but the freedoms of us all.