November 13, 2012
Emily, on saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the Veteran’s Day Celebration:
“You want to know the truest part? The truest part is about God. You know, how he’s invisible. He IS invisible! I can’t see him at all, anywhere! God, God, where are you? See?”
As most of you know, I am an elementary school teacher. Every morning, a group of “Pledge Kids” heads down to the office to say the Pledge of Allegiance over the PA system while the rest of us say it in our classrooms. It is followed by the King Pride Pledge: Today, as a King School Student, I will be respectful, responsible, and safe. The students love having a turn, and it is a ritual to start our day.
At a recent building leadership meeting, I brought up the idea of only saying the Pledge of Allegiance once a week. I was promptly shut down (though I believe I had some allies after they had a chance to ponder the issue) and as I wasn’t particularly passionate about the idea, I left it alone.
It isn’t that I’m unpatriotic. It isn’t that I don’t want to teach our students to be patriotic. It’s that we take up this time every day reciting a PLEDGE and I’m not sure we all consider — or teach our students to consider — what we are promising. Our country (to which I am loyal) is at a moral crossroads at this moment, and we would do well to be mindful of our words and actions. With that in mind, I have an urge to examine the vows we take every school day.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
This is pretty straightforward, although it would do well to state that the flag itself if a symbol of our republic, and not the thing to which we are actually loyal, which is explained in the next line:
And to the country for which it stands,
That said, symbols are important and powerful. When you hang a standard on your house, fly a flag at your place of business, plaster the image on your truck or hat or bicep, you are communicating to the world your commitment to what that represents. Think about that the next time you see a confederate flag flying at your neighbor’s house — it is literally the opposite of flying our American flag. For that matter, there are a chunk of people who are refusing to change to the new Minnesota State Flag, and are flying the old one — which was retired because of the images reflecting white settlers and farmers displacing the Indigenous people of this land. Flying the old flag is a symbol of disloyalty to our state, and to the people here.
One nation,
We may be 50 individual states, but we are also one nation. The confederacy failed, and Minnesota has resisted the urge to join Canada (97% joking). I am not alone in feeling that our nation has lost cohesion — or never had it to begin with. We aren’t loyal to each other. We have forgotten the face of our fathers.
Under God,
Not originally in our Pledge of Allegiance, the “under God” text was added by Congress in 1954 with the urging of President Eisenhower. It was an (unconstitutional, I believe) overshot in reaction to the perceived Communist threat in this country, and should have been removed long ago. I do not say it when I say the pledge.
Indivisible,
Not “invisible,” as my young daughter thought (nor are we “in witches’ hands” which is what I thought at that age!), but INDIVISIBLE: unable to be divided or separated from. Does that sound like this country right now? Or, to be honest, ever? Which brings me to the big finale
With liberty and justice for all.
Friends, this line is utter blinders-on nonsense. I (like a lot of liberal white women) have liked to tell myself that most of us are constantly working towards it. I’ve been fooled. Or blind. Or lazy. Something. But now I’m listening (I’ve been trying to actively listen since 2016 but I can do better) and I am having all the feelings but trying to push them aside and stay open, stay listening.
We must stop saying, “Well, the U.S. has problems but it is still the best place to live in the world.” This point is arguable, at best. There are a CRAP TON (official unit of measurement) of people who are living in this country and suffering on a daily basis. Yeah, I don’t make as much as I should and we struggle and have issues and all of that, but I’m not afraid to go to the bathroom. I’m not afraid to drive past a police officer or that my mom is going to be deported or that my marriage will stop being recognized.
With liberty and justice for all.
If we are going to insist that our kids say this every morning, we should probably insist that it be true.
Thanks for reading.
Love, Susie
Thank you. I grew up saying the pledge every day and was in school when the language changed(I’m old) so we had extra practice to get right.
Now the pledge and the flag seem like things to fight about without looking at the meaning. Sad.
I do like the Deer River school pledge.
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Susie.