SECTARIANISM and racism are close relatives and unfortunately here in Northern Ireland they are prone to frequent family reunions.
Tragedy struck this week when an elderly man swam across a lake to remove two Irish tricolours and replace them with the union flag.
The exact circumstances of Ossie Bradley's death are not yet known but his intention when he stepped into the icy cold water are. Despite his age the 68-year-old pensioner felt so enraged by the sight of a flickering piece of green, white and orange flag he was willing to risk and ultimately lose his life to replace it with a red, white and blue flag.
Within hours political point scoring and vile comments were being posted online from across the divide, with a few ridiculous statements from politicians and people who should know better.
One Twitter user called Mr Bradley a hero who died for his country.
As the great-granddaughter of a First World War hero who gave his life on the battlefields of Belgium, and the granddaughter of a man who barely survived a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War, I find that comment as crass as it is insensitive.
Mr Bradley did not lose his life to free the world of fascism but to free an unused island of a flag he didn't like.
Sinn Féin had already called for the flag to be removed after protestation from Protestant residents of Bessbrook.
However, the council were not to blame for Mr Bradley's death as one Twitter user ridiculously suggested.
There are loyalist areas of Belfast presently swamped in more flags than they have residents. More recently we've had Israeli flags added to the mix of UVF, UDA and Ulster flags with a few Scottish ones thrown in for good measure.
If someone so outraged at the slaughter of Palestinian children in Gaza were to die trying to remove an Israeli flag, who would be to blame?
Palestinian flags, mainly in nationalist areas, have also appeared in abundance over the last fortnight.
If someone felt such a strong affiliation with the Israelis that they attempted to remove one of these flags and died or was seriously injured in the process who would be to blame?
The council, the police, the person who placed it there?
Setting aside the fact that as adults we must bear responsibility for our own actions, if anyone shoulders even a portion of blame for Ossie Bradley's death - apart from his own sense of misadventure - it is the sectarian society we live in.
A place where 16 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement the extremists still have far too great a grip.
A place where politicians instead of facing down those who are marching backwards, pander to their insecurities.
In the same week an elderly man died trying to remove a flag there was yet another spate of racist attacks in Belfast.
Racism, like sectarianism, stems from hatred and intolerance of anything different from the perpetrator's own narrow viewpoint.
In this case it was Romanian families who were the target of thugs in east Belfast, the attacks not far from where a Ku Klux Klan flag was erected a few weeks back.
Racism is easily nurtured in an environment where people are fed a daily diet of victimisation. "They're stealing our jobs and homes" and "they're taking our culture and identity" are flip sides of the same coin. "We get nothing, they get everything". Doesn't matter who the 'they' are, the sentence works equally as well regardless of the colour or religion of the person bearing the brunt of the vitriol.
Fact is the fears being exploited rarely stand up to scrutiny.
Migrants working in Northern Ireland contribute way more to society than they claim back.
Our hospitals would have to shut down tomorrow without the input of foreign doctors, nurses and other carers.
But then hatred of a stranger for no other reason than colour, religion or belief isn't based on fact but ignorance.
Some of the racist graffiti daubed on walls close to where Romanian families were attacked this week had a distinct Life of Brian feel to it - one wall read 'Romans Out'.
I've no idea how many Italians live in east Belfast but as the Monty Python team would say, 'What did the Romans ever do for us?'
Nothing says idiot quite like badly spelt racist graffiti.
If the death of an old man should send any kind of message then it has to be that it's time to have a proper, legislated and enforceable policy on flags and symbols.
The failure to even start on this issue during the Haass talks and the recent hissy fit by unionists who walked out of all-party talks is now an unacceptable failing.
Time to stop the grandstanding and get it sorted so we can move on and address the real social issues that impact all our lives. After all, as saying goes, 'You can't eat a flag'.