The Washington Post endeavors to explain the flag-displaying behavior of tornado-stricken Oklahomans.

"The flag-raising seemed to hearten the neighbors, as if to assure them they would emerge triumphant from this disaster...."

They are hung from skeletal trees denuded of leaves and bark, stuck in the doors of cars turned upside down and draped over pieces of twisted metal embedded in the ground.

The shot of red, white and blue flying in a landscape of ashen brown is startling and powerfully defiant, seeming to embody the mettle of the national anthem.

 ADDED: That prose is a far cry from "A View From Mrs. Thompson's."