And Justice For All

So I saw the following video a few weeks ago. 

 

The reason that I’m making this entry doesn’t have anything to do with this boy taking his own stand on a social issue, however.  I’m writing this because that video made me realize how upset people get when you don’t recite the pledge of allegiance, and I don’t know how I feel about that.

I remember back in Middle School we had a substitute teacher one day, and on that day I just so happened to be talking with my friends before class started, and I didn’t hear that the pledge of allegiance had begun over the loud speaker.  I was laughing about something and didn’t take notice that everyone had risen to recite the pledge.  The next thing I knew, the sub came over and apprehensively grabbed me by the arm, and in an angry voice said to me,

“You choose not to respect this country, and that’s okay too”

Despite the way that sounds when you read it, rest assured she was not pleased.  I think the reason it sounds so contradictory is because she was initially angry at the fact that I wasn’t reciting the pledge, but half way through her reprimanding me, she probably realized that people have their own views, and by virtue of our free country, could choose not to recite the pledge.  I don’t know for sure why she said what she did, but it was the first time it occurred to me that the pledge was a pretty big deal to a lot of people.

This happened when I was in 6^th grade.  I didn’t understand the significance of the pledge at this point in my life, I’d be hard pressed to say that any 6^th grader did.  I always just did as I was told, and as far as I knew, you recited the pledge every day before classes commenced.  I never once asked why we recited the pledge, and to the best of my memory, it was ever explained to me.  Who was I to question such a thing as a 6^th grader?  And more importantly, why would I care?

6^th grade was all about lasting until lunch period, and then surviving the rest of the day where you got to go home, not challenging the reasoning to cultural norms.

So now here I am, a senior in college, and I can’t remember the last time I recited the pledge outside of High School. 

Here’s where my point comes in.  I can’t think of anyone I know who still recites the pledge every morning.  As far as I know, most of the American population stops reciting it as soon as High School is over.  Now if the pledge were so important, why do we stop reciting it when we graduate?  You see, here we have this boy who has chosen to sit down during the pledge, and he’s getting media attention on CNN.  That’s how important this is to people.  The pledge is important enough that if a student chooses not to recite it, it gets televised to the nation.

This just blows my mind.  I mean think about it!  Here we are broadcasting this situation all over television networks and the internet over an anthem that is hardly used outside of secondary schools.  I just don’t get it. 

I ended up asking my mom what she thought about this, and she told me that there are soldiers out all across the world who are fighting and dying to protect that pledge.  I understand that completely, and I realize the significance of it – in my opinion it is wrong to refuse to acknowledge people who are out defending our freedom, but that isn’t what I’m trying to get at.  What I’m questioning is why do we, as civilians, uphold the pledge so vehemently at early ages, only to abandon it later in life?  Actually, when you think about it, it doesn’t make sense that we teach the pledge to such young children, because there’s no way they could know what it stands for.  At such an early age, all you are doing when you teach the anthem is brainwashing the children.  What’s the point of the pledge if the people reciting it don’t know what it stands for?

In the end, I still don’t know how I really feel about this anymore.  Whether it be the pledge itself, or the stubbornness of our culture’s habits, I don’t know how I feel about it.

Because of that, today’s question is going to be simple:

How do you feel about the pledge of allegiance?

Stay frosty