While driving to dinner the other night, listening to the new Johnny Cash CD, (which is rather somber) I happened to notice out of the corner of my eye the flags of a hospital all at half mast. I was suddenly struck with all the feelings of shock and sadness that I had experienced on Feb. 1st when I heard about the Columbia disaster. That thought was the followed up by one on how much power symbols such as a the flag at half mast can have on our psyche. Something I knew in concept but never really consciously experienced before.