Nations at half mast

Water Serpents II (Wasserschlangen) by Gustav Klimt

I wonder who came up with the idea to hang a flag at half mast to suggest the loss of something great to a nation? The act for me is not only a way to mourn the loss of human life, quite often you never personally know the person or people who have died, whether they be a head of state, a police officer shot in the line of duty, a football fan or a student in the right place but at the worst of times, it is also a way to mourn a loss of something symbolic - a passing of an era, perhaps a nation's loss of innocence or a way to signify the unjustice of what has befallen a country.

The world is full of nations at half mast at the moment - even though they fly their flags at full height almost to spite the present circumstances. It is a reassuring constant of humanity - a way to justify living life to the fullest for those who can, because ultimately things are not in your control. How can you account for someone who wants to destroy a group of fellow classmates? How can you account for someone with more authority building a wall of sorts across land you thought was yours i.e. Western Sahara? How can you account for one country gaining so much air time the world outside is growing immune to it i.e. Pakistan, while people struggling for survival in another i.e. Somalia barely registers 30 seconds? Or in the case of Australia, the onslaught of yet another major police corruption scandal in one of its fine states, which staggeringly is no longer truly frightening to the nation or its elected representatives?

But the other great constant is that this makes prime material for satire, visual art, music and lets not forget blogs and maybe that's why nations fly flags at half mast.