When I first learned that a telecommunications tower would be erected on the Island, I was less than enthusiastic. I find little that is attractive in both the appearance and the location of these towers.
Then word came that the tower would be attached to the tennis stadium. Oh, boy! Another instance of technology trumping other considerations. I watched as the tower was being erected. Well, not too bad. The circular pylon was not exactly a work of art but it wasn’t an eyesore either.
A few days later an American flag appeared atop the pylon. Now I was definitely unhappy. You don’t erect a tower of that size and height on top of the tennis stadium and cap it with a napkin size flag. What was needed proportionately was a bed sheet size flag. That size flag fluttering in the breeze belonged on a skinny pole outside a patriotic funeral parlor.
Before I had found the appropriate person in authority to voice my dissatisfaction wiser heads prevailed. Now we have a flag, the location and size of which makes a statement. I like the big flag on top of the stadium. That should attract attention to Daniel Island.
Unfortunately it’s ill-lighted and then only from the south side of the Island. After the theatre or whatever, I’m usually happy to be heading home, traversing unlighted 526. I cross the bridge. Where is it? Old Glory is in the dark, when flag protocol says it should be lighted. Currently the installation is a half job. Proper lighting would complete the job that now violates flag protocol. Councilman Gary White may want to look into this faux pas.
Aside from growing up in Michigan and attending college and universities in Indiana, New York and Missouri, the first ten years of my stay in Washington, DC, I was in business. The consulting business took me repeatedly to 75 or 80 U.S. cities, which is how I discovered Charleston. I gained a sense of life in America, for better or for worse.
I retired and stayed in Washington for another fifteen years. I began traveling, mostly in Europe. Then I developed the practice of leaving town each year for 30 days from the middle of January until the middle of February. My criteria for selecting a destination were three-fold: warm, dollar is strong and the local wine is both good and cheap.
I’ve traveled North America, South America, parts of Asia and Africa and extensively in the Far East, plus Australia and New Zealand. I learned a lot about how people lived or were forced to live because of local social or political restrictions. Informative though my travels had been, I was always happy to get back to the good old USA.
Every time I see that flag flying over the stadium I am reminded how fortunate I am to have been born in America. So thank you to the person who directed replacement of the napkin with a flag of appropriate size to elicit the sentiment of the song, "This is my country! Land of my birth!"
