The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.Uh, so much for the voluntary pledge of allegiance, which is the whole reason it's legal to have "under god" in there.
“She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,” Will said. “I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ‘With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' ”
Sure hope this is just a passing phase he grows out of. It'd be a real waste of a citizen of his calibre.John Adams, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln were all lawyers, I think we would be hard pressed to find anyone say they were wastes. Not all contemporary lawyers are that bad either, so why the categorical denouncement of an entire profession? That seems awfully narrow viewed. All professions have good and bad folk. What could be a better use of this kid's talents, foresight, and intellect than to become a great attorney and defend free speech and civil rights?
All of which is just to say that the pledge is stupid, making anyone say it is stupid, and there are real consequences in a lot of the country for refusing to participate, whether you are 10 or 30.The Pledge is not stupid, I can think of far worse things than an oath of loyalty to a nation that is supposed to stand for liberty and justice. Is it flawed? Yes. I have problems with the pledge, I'm an atheist. Your wife should have had complete liberty not to have to lead the class in the pledge, but that's not the source of her problems. Her problems were with the principle, someone who took the pledge, and everything it stood for, and threw it out the window in its "defense." Your beef is not with the pledge, it's with the actions of others in the name of the pledge. The Pledge of Allegiance is not the source of the problem, the principle is.
"At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute -- right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.' At the words, 'to my Flag,' the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side."It was replaced in 1942 with the "hand-over-the-heart" gesture because of its similarity to the Hitler salute.
We, her peoples, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends guided by these principles:It never occurred to any of us to protest it by not saying it (I found the "Belief in God" bit a bit dodgy as a teenager but didn't know what to do about it), but - knowing the general attitude towards vaguely counter-cultural youth, it probably wouldn't go down well.
* BELIEF IN GOD
* LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY
* UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTION
* RULE OF LAW
* GOOD BEHAVIOUR AND MORALITY
Most appropriate error everCurses, serves me right for not proofreading.
Obediently all the children got up and put their hands on their hearts and the New Teacher did the same, and they began in unison, 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of -"posted by Flannery Culp at 3:30 PM on November 16, 2009 [6 favorites]
"Just a moment," the New Teacher said. "What does PLEDGE mean?"
The children stood openmouthed; Miss Worden had never interrupted them before. They stood and stared at the New Teacher. Wordless. And silent.
...The New Teacher waited, and the silence hung in the room, hurting. then she said, "I think it's quite wrong for you to have to say something with long words in it if you don't understand what you're saying."
So the children sat down and waited expectantly.
"What did your other teacher tell you that it meant?"
After a long silence Danny put up his hand. "She never said nothing, miss."
..."Did you ask each other what it meant?"
"I askt Danny once and he didn't know and none of us knowed really. It's grown-up talk, and grown-ups talk that sort of words. We just havta learn it."
“The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.posted by ericb at 4:12 PM on November 16, 2009 [2 favorites]
In its original form it read:‘I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’In 1923, the words, ‘the Flag of the United States of America’ were added. At this time it read:‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words ‘under God,’ creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’”*
"In fact, 'when I've been asked what should be on my gravestone,' [Ian McKellen] noted, 'I've said: "Here lies Gandalf. He came out." Two big achievements."Awesome! I hope he follows through with that in his last will and testament.
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posted by ColdChef at 11:34 AM on November 16, 2009