Residents of the all-male dorm King Hall are showing that a little patriotism goes a long way. In light of the tragic bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, residents of the dorm have displayed over 90 American flags in windows to show that national pride is alive and well at SHSU.Mike Kaatz, second floor resident advisor at King Hall, said that he and another RA came up with the idea after many of their residents took it upon themselves to put up the stars and stripes. Daniel Combs, another RA, brought up the idea, and I thought it would be really cool to do this, Kaatz said. Plus there was a letter in the Houstonian about how patriotism was not a big deal and that there werent many flags up, so we thought hey, lets answer that. Kaatz then enlisted the help of a local business to bring the flags to King Hall.We contacted Copy Time and asked if they had any flags available, and they said yes, Kaatz said. They gave us 90 of them for free, and we promised to put them in every window.Employees of Copy Time said they have donated flags throughout the Huntsville area.We have like 15,000 flags printed, employee Amanda Stewart said. We have donated them to schools, given them out at high school football games in Huntsville and New Waverly and to Trinity teachers.Aiming to promote a sense of patriotism in Huntsville, Stewart said Copy Time, located at 1304 Sam Houston Ave., will give a flag to anyone free of charge. Kaatz said that after getting the paper flags from Copy Time, he and other RAs then distributed them to residents and found they were eager to display the American symbol.Everyone has been very supportive. We went around and handed them to the residents, and they taped them up immediately, Kaatz said. Theyve been very receptive; we havent had anyone say no. No one.I think its great to show a lot of flags everywhere, freshman King Hall resident Ryan Cathey said. Its important to show pride in our country right now and actually put up some flags.Kaatz said that even the dorms international students, representing countries such as Malaysia, Japan and Brazil, were supportive of the project. Our international students said they would love to do it, Kaatz said. They put the flags up in no time.Kaatz added that some of the international residents in King Hall were shaken by the attack on a country formerly viewed as invincible.One of my residents from Brazil said his parents were really worried about his being over here now. They were just shocked that anyone would do this to the United States, Kaatz said. He thought our flag displaying idea was really great.American-born King Hall residents also displayed anger over the attacks and have since discovered a new sense of patriotism by displaying flags in their windows.Its cool regardless. First of all, its the American flag and with all the stuff thats gone on around here lately, its good to do something, freshman King Hall resident Matt McCaughey said. I hate what happened. I absolutely hate it.Kaatz said they have not made plans to take down the flags any time soon.Well leave then up indefinitely Im sure, Kaatz said. This was something we really wanted to do to show support after the tragedy. I havent seen anything like it before, and I hope that maybe it stirs everybody to have a little more pride in their country and what the country has to accomplish.Kaatz said he hopes, unlike the colors of the flags hung proudly in King Hall windows, the patriotism of America will not fade with time.Hopefully it (patriotism) will carry over into the future, but these things tend to go in cycles, Kaatz said. People are going to become patriotic, and then it will die off. Id like to see it last though.
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