One flag works for all

I am a straight, white, middle-class male who is incredibly lucky to have been born into a stable family in the United States of America during the most innovative and fruitful period in history. As such, I acknowledge that my points of view on social topics are mostly baked into my perceptions in so many ways that I consider "normal" and don't recognize as bias.

What I don't get is why our leaders are feeling the need to quarrel over the current demands to amplify our differences by displaying specific point-of-view flags in public places. Let's simply concede that your ethnicity, sexual orientation, political positions, special needs, religious beliefs, traditions and social values are unlikely to be exactly the same as the collection of touchstones that make up my core. And I'm wondering why your uniqueness has any more right on a public flagpole than mine.

Happily, there already is one symbol that encompasses and observes our individual diversity - the Stars and Stripes.

William Murray

Palatine