From Port Authority to the UN is 8 New York City east-west-oriented blocks, which is almost two miles. All the entrances to the UN were surrounded by police barricades. Only official personnel were being admitted, putting an end to my hopes of picking up some flags at the gift shops. The shops in the local hotels were also closed; I was advised to visit the gift shop of UNICEF. Its specialties appear to be cards and dolls: no flags from any nationality were on sale.
My next stop was the area of Broadway around Times Square where there are dozens of souvenir shops selling an imaginative paradise of tourist junk. Every shop-keeper was keen to sell me a Stars-and-Stripes, so I could join the flag-waving throngs marching up and down the crowded theater district as quickly as possible. Flags of countries other than the United States , ( forget the UN ) were not to be had anywhere. Surprisingly enough, I did come across a stall on 42nd Street between 7th and 6th Avenues managed by South Americans, with little flags of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, etc., proudly on displayed above the cash register.
At the Visitor's Center located above 46th Street on Broadway, I consulted a phone book listing flag shops in the mid-town area between Union Square and 42nd Street. After writing them down on a slip of paper, I put aside my resolution to wave a UN flag to the following day.
The search resumed on Saturday, September 28th. All in all I walked for over 3 hours, from 11AM to past 2PM , in search of a UN flag, without finding one.
None of the shops on my list carried UN flags, or anything but American flags. Some of the streets in the garment district, (between 6th and 7th Avenues and 23rd to 42nd Streets ), were so encumbered by street vendors selling hand-held American flags, American flag tee shirts, American flag caps and beanies, American flag drapes and table cloths, and so forth, that it was well nigh impossible to make one's way from one end to the other. One also saw lots of cardboard boxes heaped with glossy photos and postcards of the former structures of the World Trade Center.
Crossing the street at 6th Avenue on the west side of 34th Street, one is greeted by a huge sign at the prow of MACY's which announces that this is the WORLD'S LARGEST STORE . Stepping inside I was embraced by an interior suffocating under the weight of dozens of large American flags, flag poles, bunting and banners suspended from the ceiling. The receptionist was not disposed to be friendly when I asked her if the world's largest store had a UN flag to sell me. No non-American flags are to be bought at Macy's. End of story.
Proceeding uptown I came, purely by accident, to the location of the Rand McNally Travel Store on the southeast corner of the intersection of 7th Avenue and 40th . There, prominently displayed in the storefront window, stand dozens of little flags from many countries. Half a dozen UN flags stand in a cluster like a bouquet of flowers. I felt as a traveler through the desert must feel coming across an oasis after giving up hope of finding one.
Alas! The store was closed. It is part of a larger entity called the Satellite Airline Center, which was completely closed down. This may be because of the present crisis, or because it was a Saturday.
My quest was continued around Rockefeller Center, without success. At the French bookstore I was told that, although they were out of flags at the moment, they did have a pin I could wear. It turned out to be just another Stars and Stripes. The bookseller had heard "Etats-Unis", when I'd asked for "Nations Unies".
Onward through a city replicating the Stars and Stripes like DNA. Here one can discover a few exceptions to the universal censorship of other nationalities: the jewelry store Pierre Cartier promotes 3 flags above its doors: US , UK and France. Bloomingdale's actually floats 8 flags: US, UK, Israel, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Japan. Of course Bloomingdale's sells clothes, not flags.
For my final exercise in futility I visited two concessions of the chain Civilized Traveler. These stores carry luggage, back-packs, travel books, videos, and equipment related to travel. My hope was that they would exhibit the same cosmopolitan spirit as Rand McNally. At their store on 65th and Lexington, a saleswoman tried to sell me a luggage tag in the shape of an American flag with highly elongated stripes. Finally , at their store at 68th and Broadway, I was shown a luggage tag on which are depicted flags from 12 countries: France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden. Mexico, Brazil and Greece.
$3.00 , plus tax. It was better than nothing. I bought it. We all want to do something to address the present tragedy: the prominent display of this luggage tag on my shoulder bag for the rest of my time in New York City was my small contribution to the healing process.
Formerly I thought that most Americans believed that the United States was the world's most important country. Now I know that for most of my fellow citizens, the rest of the world doesn't exist.