I was driving home from the grocery store this morning when I noticed the American flag at our golf club was flying at half staff.
That’s a pretty serious thing, and it usually means a great America — usually a former president — has died. Although as strange as our culture has become, it could have been a Kardashian or Paris Hilton.
I was afraid it might be Jimmy Carter, who is 20 days from his 98th birthday, although it would have been OK with me if it had been Donald Trump after choking on a Big Mac.
Then I realized what the date was — the 21st anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon — and I figured that might be the reason.
Both guesses were wrong, and one other thing came to mind. My golf clubhouse had lowered the flag to half-staff six years ago this month when golfer Arnold Palmer had died. A step up from a Kardashian or a Hilton, but still a sort of unofficial deal.
So I checked to see if Jack Nicklaus was still alive.
He was.
So I Googled it to find out …
Of course you’re saying, Mike, you’re a moron. Of course it was …
… Queen Elizabeth II.
No duh, Mike.
All right, creepy interior voice. That’s enough from the Peanut Gallery.
Of course the Queen had come to mind, but I was unaware that we lowered the flag to honor the passing of foreign leaders. As it turns out, President Biden proclaimed that the flag will remain at half-staff till her state funeral a week from tomorrow.
In addition, while vice presidents attend most foreign funerals, Biden and his wife Jill will attend the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.. I would imagine it will be televised worldwide, just as another funeral from the same site was 25 years ago.
As for the flag, I’m not looking forward to seeing it at half mast again, although coming up on 98, I’ve got to figure President Carter is rounding the last turn and heading for home.
I can only hope it will be a later occupant ofthe office who gets there first.