My dad, who would've turned 97 last week, served in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He didn't talk much about it, and when he did, he spun evocative anecdotes that were darkly funny or even hilarious.

I guess humor is relative, and a laugh or two probably came in handy during — or, if you survived, after — a beach invasion of the Philippines. At the same time, Mom said my father suffered an ongoing processional of bad "war dreams" he wouldn't describe. My sister and I certainly never heard about them until he died in 1991.

A decade or so ago, when at long last the full boil of my own self-absorption simmered down a bit and it occurred to me to think of such things, I started, in my father's memory and in honor of our country and those who've served and sacrificed, flying a U.S. flag on Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Flag Day, and Veteran's Day. A small but heartfelt gesture.

After this year's Independence Day, I decided to hoist the flag every day — and casually mentioned this to a few folks who happen to know that, politically speaking, I'm decidedly left of center.

"Whoa! Fly the flag every day?! Aren't you afraid people will think you're a Trump supporter?"

Hmm. It was a response that hadn't occurred to me, though, on reflection, it made a disturbing sort of sense. There really does seem to be, more than ever, an ideological divide in America that's reached the seasick-inducing point where our flag — along with a ballcap emblazoned with a huckster-penned "Make America Great Again" slogan — seems the entitled property of those with a right-leaning empathy. My thoughts:

1. Screw that.

2. There are plenty of us "on the left" who believe America is STILL great and strive every day to make it greater (against some disturbing and late-breaking odds).

3. I'm not going to let someone who spins, hourly, a fictional reality based on whatever might best distract from his latest screw-up appropriate the flag.

4. Ditto to his followers.

5. Speaking Tuesday at the annual VFW convention — where my father presumably would have been welcome — President Trump advised the crowd to "... Stick with us. Don't believe the crap you see from (the media), the fake news. ... What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

6. I'm a journalist. Oh, it's happening, Don. Jeez. It's happening.

7. Thanks for your service, Dad. On our porch, the flag proudly yet waves.