...Why You Shouldn't Try to Talk All Tough

I hope I don’t wind up on some House Un-American Activities Committee or FBI watch list for mentioning the following incident, but this morning I was stopped at a red light behind a truck with a bumper sticker that read: THESE COLORS DON’T RUN.

I’m not going to mock anyone for their patriotism; I don’t think any person should be made to feel ashamed or ridiculed for having pride in their country. Yet I have to confess to having been confused by the sticker because in looking at it, I couldn’t make out what the text was supposed to refer to. Upon closer inspection, I saw a faded blue square with some white dots inside of it a few inches to the left of the text, but between the two was a long stretch of plain white background with only the faintest hint of what at one time I’m sure were red and white stripes. I don’t know if it was sun damage or rain damage or age or what, but one thing was for sure: The colors had *TOTALLY* run.