America, America, America!
There are always a few neighbors in our communities that can be classified as overly patriotic. They seem to take pride in their country to an extreme, sometimes even beyond rational limits. This example illustrates one such person, who felt the need to complain to IKEA about the Swedish flag being placed at the same level as the American flag, as if IKEA was violating a law or something.
However, it turned out that IKEA was not breaking any law by doing so. In fact, the only time when it is legally acceptable to display one nation’s flag lower than another is during wartime, and in that case, you wouldn’t even want to put the enemy’s flag up in the first place. As far as we know, the United States and Sweden are good friends, and IKEA did their homework on flags. It is crucial to research and understand the context and rules around a situation before making a complaint or accusation. In this case, the neighbor’s excessive pride in their country led to an unnecessary complaint and wasted resources for both IKEA and the government.
