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May 11, 2006
Why does everything have to go in the front yard?
I almost entitled this "Patriots or Drama Queens", but I thought that might add fuel to the fire that's already burning. About a month ago, a woman in Florida put up a sign outside her home showing support for our troops overseas, among them her husband. Recently, a mother in Pennsylvania did the same thing in support of her son. Since they lived in associations, a letter from the board asking them to remove the sign showed up shortly therafter, immediately followed by the story appearing in the newspapers, on the evening news and in blogs across the country. As you might expect, the associations and boards were dumped on.
Over the past year I've seen similar stories regarding service flags, religious displays, political and patriotic signs, among other things. I've seen so many of them that I've decided to add this to the "Issues" blog just to keep track of them. There are plenty of opinions on either side of the issue and I'm not going to get into them in this particular posting. Instead I'd like to raise a few questions.
Why do personal displays have to placed outdoors, and in front of the home? Does it make you more patriotic for the flag to be outside, rather than inside? Do you really think that your sign supporting a particular candidate or issue is going to honestly change one single person's opinion, just because they happened by your home and its out front on a sign? Are you less of a Marine if that service flag is in your living room or den or on your deck, rather than on a pole in the front yard. Would you be ex-communicated or risk hell if your religious display was inside or in your back yard? Would anyone have less respect for the husband or son of those women if the display had been inside in front of a window? Why do we feel that the front yard is the appropriate place to display our feelings and beliefs?
I'm sure there must be some psych papers out there that might explain the inner need to show others what you're thinking and feeling., possibly because we feel less and less listened to by those we elect or we we are becoming more and more isolated from our families and friends as they move away from our neighborhoods. We want to be seen and heard. We want to feel like we can make a difference.
Or is it that it is just part of a tradition that we are hanging on to. My parents had a flag in their front yard, so I want one in mine. (My Dad also had two junk cars in the yard, but that's one tradition I've ignored so far). Traditions get harder to part with the older you get. But they're just that, traditions, not laws.
Are the owners rights being abused by the board? Not really. They still have the right to express their opinions and beliefs. The rules generally restrict the manner in which they may be expressed. Every level of government in the country has rules on that. And like the government, those restrictions rarely extend to inside the home. Its the outside where you find prohibitions on hate messages, ordinances on the size and type of signs and displays, restrictions on political signs in polling places, etc.
As to the two women and their visible support for their servicemen, the associations had rules that they had to enforce, and the associations are going to look like crap as a result. For those of you on association boards, I can only suggest that you meet with your residents, talk over whether you want to allow signs, flags and/or displays; try and reach a consensus, draft proposed rules and have the owners vote. At least if you have to defend it you can say that it was a democratically arrived-at decision by the owners, and not just the board abusing some poor owner.
A side note:
My nephew (and, until his son was born recently, the last male to carry our family name) enlisted in the Army at age 30 and just got sent to Afghanistan. His specialty is removing IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices), you know, those things that keep blowing up people there and in Iraq. I guess I could show my support of him by putting out a sign, or flying the flag continuously, or creating a patriotic display out in my front yard, but I haven't. Instead, I've sent a box of books, another box of snacks, letters, pictures and whatever I can think of to, hopefully, brighten his day. I think its important to make him feel better, not me.
Posted by joewest at May 11, 2006 10:02 PM