Seed: Invisible Under God
So, I 'm sitting in the easy chair the other night when my littlest one comes up and says she has decided not to say the Pledge of Allegiance anymore. Instantaneously I smell sulfur and a little red feller appears on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "Hey, alright! She's a rebel!" As I began a little smile, there's another poof and the scent of fresh laundry and a little angelic creature lights on my other shoulder and screams in my ear, "What the hell are you thinking? You don't want a rebellious daughter! What? You want her drunk and knocked up in middle school?!"
After flicking the little minions off my shoulders I asked her why she didn't want to say it. "Because," she said, "I'm loyal to one man - God." Uhhhghhh. Great. Supranational zealot was not on my list of career choices when I dreamed of her future. I maintained though. I asked her to elaborate. "Well, it says you pledge 'legiance to the flag. But God loves all the countries, not just ours." OK, right. She sings "Jesus loves the little children of the world" in Sunday school. Next I ask the big one - where did she get the idea? "From myself. Duh. It just makes sense, Dad."
Even though I was so proud of her rational powers, I was clear-headed enough to realize this was probably not going to make her really popular at school. And by the way, Mr. Secret Agent Man, no need to put us on a watchlist or anything. She's very proud her country and she knows all about Lincoln and Washington and she simply adores Teddy Roosevelt. American Legends is one of her favorite Disney DVDs. But I'm holding my breath because I'm pretty sure she'll get hammered by the Borg-like red-staters at school. This ain’t just some Bodr..uh Bordl..B..uh… Irish folk CD with a drum. This is
I emailed her teachers to let them know what to expect, but then it occurred to me that I am not positive she's even allowed not to say it, as frightening as that sounds. I think unless students can show compelling proof that it violates their religion, they have to say it. I haven't heard back from her teachers so now I'm really worried - I figure they must be plotting... But, as I told them, what better lesson in liberty could there be than this?
The funny thing about all this is that I was trying to remember how I felt about the pledge in school and you know what? I don't think we ever said it. If we did it was in the very young grades. I know for a fact we never prayed in school, and I'm almost certain we didn't say the pledge. I checked with the Grandmother of Europe and she said she was sure that by high school (which was when I was in elementary) they didn't say it. So was there some sort of post-Vietnam cold-shouldering of the pledge? Ironically in
And the more I thought about it, I really don't have a problem with the pledge myself. I could do without the flag part, mainly because a) it's a gaudy flag and b) I just don't get pledging to a piece of fabric. But the part about "the Republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" I will always pledge to. I see it as a reminder of what we're all about; a barometer or plumb line by which we can gauge how far off the mark or how on mission we are at any given time.
So what's your reaction? How do you feel about the pledge? What's your experience with it?
By the way, when I got home from work I asked the young'n how it went. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I said it - but I didn't mean it." Awwww, passive aggression. She's Daddy's Little Girl - a chip off the old block.
posted by St. Fiacre @ 11:53 AM,
1 Comments:
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At Wednesday, October 11, 2006 2:12:00 PM,
pastgrace said...
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When I was in India at a Girl Scout, Girl Guide event I was stuck at explaining why we have a pledge of alleigance. There I was only 17 years old and I really didn't have a good answer. The rest of the world thinks we're crazy. Their attitude is a national anthem is enough.
Here's a bit of culture shock for you. Most of my informative years were spent going to movies at the various military bases that we lived at over those years. At the beginning of the movies the national anthem played. Everyone got up and stood appropriately.
When we came to Oklahoma it was the first time I went to a civilian movie theatre. I was SHOCKED! Where was the national anthem?
How about this, I went to a PTA meeting back in Sept. They had the Girl Scouts do a flag ceremony. Did you know that a large majority of people did not even seem to know that they were suppose to stand and say the pledge of alleigance? Even greater faux paus-- they didn't even shut up! What is the world coming to when people don't even show proper respect for their country when their kids are around?
