I'll be the first to admit, I don't know all the rules and etiquette about the keeping and maintaining of the U.S. flag. But I'm pretty sure balling it up and tossing it on a desk is not one of the accepted ways of treating it.

In the United States Flag Code, it says the flag "should not be drawn back or bunched up in any way." Instead, it should be treated respectively, folded in a triangle with the blue field on the outside.

I was sitting in an office at the Cumberland Pointe Apartments in Noblesville, IN earlier this week, and saw our country's flag bunched up and tossed carelessly on some three-ring binders, presumably waiting to be raised on the flagpole that morning. I snapped this photo before I left.

It's starting to show a little wear. If it's still being used properly, it shouldn't be stored this way. If it's too worn to use properly, it should be turned in at a local American Legion post, where they dispose of it properly and respectfully. It should not be balled up and left sitting on someone's desk.

Our flag deserves better treatment than that, and shame on the Cumberland Pointe Apartments for doing this.