Why would we want a Companion Flag?

To keep an important truth before our eyes, and the eyes of our children. The Companion Flag is a gift to the children of the world: a universal symbol of shared humanity -- a blank page upon which they, and all who come after them, may write a brighter and more peaceful future for themselves and for the world.

Our role -- yours and mine -- is to seize the moment. It is our privilege to introduce this simple, gentle, unifying symbol, and to invite all responsible people living in all parts of the world -- friends, enemies, strangers, people like ourselves, and people who seem at first blush fantastically different -- to consider whether or not the shared aspects of our lives, everything that is done, held, known, or experienced in common by human beings, notwithstanding their differences, is worth symbolizing -- and whether, by adopting a universal symbol to represent our shared humanity, and displaying it in partnership with some of our most cherished and honored symbols of division and separation, we will bring symbolic balance to all flags and create an atmosphere, for ourselves and our children, of greater tolerance, understanding and compassion.

It’s been said that to live in balance with nature, and with our fellow man and woman, is one of the highest goals of every human being. It is a deep, personal yearning, although not easily or often articulated. For most of us, distracted by the concerns of day-to-day living, it can seem like an "impossible dream."

It is not particularly difficult to live in balance with people who look, think, act, or believe as we do. That’s something we all do more or less everyday, and it’s consistent with models of behavior that have been past down to us by our forebears. No, the challenge for this generation is to find a way to live in balance with people who are different -- sometimes very different.

The Companion Flag is a unique symbol. It does not speak to, contradict, or call into question the existence or importance of our differences; it does not favor one nation, group, or type of individual over another; it is not a call to action, inaction, or even to cooperation. Instead, the Companion Flag is a quiet, constant, ever-present reminder to all of us that, notwithstanding our differences, we, as human beings, are also in many important respects the same. Our adoption and use of the Companion Flag will confirm that we, as a world population, have seen fit to acknowledge this important and abiding truth about our lives -- regardless of our differences, and no matter how we may choose to deal with one another, whether across the street or around the world.

Questions What is it? What does it stand for? Why would we want it? What are some examples? Is it a call to action? How is it displayed? Why is it white?	Why would we want the Companion Flag?
	To keep an important truth before our eyes, and the eyes of our children. The Companion Flag is a gift to the children of the world: a universal symbol of shared humanity -- a blank page upon which they, and all who come after them, may write a brighter and more peaceful future for themselves and for the world. Our role -- yours and mine -- is to seize the moment. It is our privilege to introduce this simple, gentle, unifying symbol, and to invite all responsible people living in all parts of the world -- friends, enemies, strangers, people like ourselves, and people who seem at first blush fantastically different -- to consider whether or not the shared aspects of our lives, everything that is done, held, known, or experienced in common by human beings, notwithstanding their differences, is worth symbolizing -- and whether, by adopting a universal symbol to represent our shared humanity, and displaying it in partnership with some of our most cherished and honored symbols of division and separation, we will bring symbolic balance to all flags and create an atmosphere, for ourselves and our children, of greater tolerance, understanding and compassion. It’s been said that to live in balance with nature, and with our fellow man and woman, is one of the highest goals of every human being. It is a deep, personal yearning, although not easily or often articulated. For most of us, distracted by the concerns of day-to-day living, it can seem like an "impossible dream." It is not particularly difficult to live in balance with people who look, think, act, or believe as we do. That’s something we all do more or less everyday, and it’s consistent with models of behavior that have been past down to us by our forebears. No, the challenge for this generation is to find a way to live in balance with people who are different -- sometimes very different. The Companion Flag is a unique symbol. It does not speak to, contradict, or call into question the existence or importance of our differences; it does not favor one nation, group, or type of individual over another; it is not a call to action, inaction, or even to cooperation. Instead, the Companion Flag is a quiet, constant, ever-present reminder to all of us that, notwithstanding our differences, we, as human beings, are also in many important respects the same. Our adoption and use of the Companion Flag will confirm that we, as a world population, have seen fit to acknowledge this important and abiding truth about our lives -- regardless of our differences, and no matter how we may choose to deal with one another, whether across the street or around the world.	Imagine the Companion Flag flying everywhere -- on every continent, in every city in the world -- wherever flags are displayed. There! It flies below the red and white flag of Japan on a busy, sunlit morning in Tokyo. Some 7500 kilometers away, it waves below the red, white and blue Russian flag, on a pole high above the Kremlin wall. Bathed in spotlights, the two giant flags stand out brilliantly against the night sky; their synchronous undulations are visible from all directions. Across the top of each Companion Flag is a band of color matching one of the colors appearing in the flag above it, its "host flag". In this way, the organic relationship of the two flags is confirmed, and we are reminded to embrace the fullness of our natures: the fact that we are, at once, both different and the same. In Sao Paulo, throughout its many districts and barrios, the Companion Flag wags lazily back and forth beneath the green, blue, and gold of the Brazilian flag; it is early evening there. And in Philadelphia, where it is late afternoon, a Companion Flag snaps vigorously beneath the red, white and blue flag of the United States -- both flags brightly sunlit one moment, shaded the next beneath a sea of wind-driven clouds. At a quiet military outpost south of Khartoum, the slow fluttering of the Companion Flag and its host, the red, green, white and black flag of the Sudan, both darkly silhouetted against the stars, is like a whispering in the desert; and just outside the airport in Lilongwe, the familiar white flag and its less-familiar partner, the red, black and green flag of Malawi, are among the first sights seen by the business traveler from Germany, emerging from the airport in search of a taxi. The Companion Flag soars with the flags of Canada, Sierra Leon, Costa Rica, Greece, India, China, and Argentina. In Vietnam, Pakistan, England and Mexico it twists and rolls in a light wind, brushing and brushed by the flags of those nations; and all who glance up to see it, wherever they are, know that, as surely as they see it there, it flies at that moment in France, in Zaire, in New Zealand, and everywhere else on earth, signifying precisely those things which are common to them, and common to every other human being, regardless of their differences. As you can see, the Companion Flag, as I've imagined it, is everywhere. It is visible on top of government and office buildings throughout the world. It is outside every school, post office, park, library, police station, hospital, airport, theater, sports stadium and museum. It is displayed by private citizens, as well, in and around their homes and places of business: a white banner with a narrow band of color across the top sharing the spotlight with the flags of every nation, state, municipality, clan, business, club, and organization.
		What are some examples...?