In the
eigth grade, my
Health Class teacher offered ten
extra credit points
to anyone who could write down the Pledge of Allegiance all the way through with
complete
punctuation and
perfect spelling.
I failed.
His point, of course, was to
challenge us to think about this thing we were
reciting every day. And that was probably the first time I really looked at it.
Flags are obviously
symbols. But symbols for what? Not for this nation. If I
wanted to pledge allegiance to this nation, I'd just do that. It would read,
simply: "I pledge allegiance to the United States of America...". The flag, to me,
is a symbol of the ideals of this nation. The flag symbolizes everything this
country should be. Everything this country strives to be, though it may fall short much
of the time.
Furthermore, 'under God' to me does not refer to some
Judeo-Christian Yahweh-type,
divine,
omnipotent being. It refers to my
heart of hearts which is what tells me what's
right and what's wrong. It refers to that which informs my ideals of what makes
this the greatest nation. You know, things like
freedom and
courage as well as
pluralism and
tolerance.
So, after that day, I've tried to think about those things every time I recite the
Pledge of Allegiance. Even when that sorta-
goth kid who I thought was really
cool would clasp his hands behind his back and bow his head, I would proudly cover
my heart and hold my head high as I recited very mindfully these words that I'd
known since
kindergarten, but whose potency I hadn't before that one day in
Health Class.
I don't say it much anymore, because I've since made a much bigger
commitment, one that displays my heartfelt
patriotism better than
words can.
Of course, that's just
what it means to me. By no means would I
judge someone else for not saying it, or try to force anyone to say it. I'm not even condoning the practice of mass recital in public schools. I am, perhaps, challenging your
blind refusal to pledge allegiance to the nation in which you
implicitly choose to reside. Refusing to do something just because everyone else is is just as bad as
conforming.