On Monday, November 11th, we will celebrate
Veterans’ Day. When I was a little girl this was a very special day in
the American public for this was the day that our nation set aside to remember
the anniversary of the end of World War I (November 11) and to honor US
veterans and victims of all wars. Coincidentally, I was recently asked by one
of my students, who was writing an article for our high school newspaper, what
I thought about the pledge of allegiance. In fairness, I asked him to
give me the balance of the day so I could gather my thoughts. Later that
night, I finally had time to reflect on those words, “I pledge allegiance. .
.” My memories and feelings soon turned to words. . .
There is a saying, “sitting in a garage does not make you a
car”. Reciting an oath or the pledge of allegiance does not make you
patriotic, an American, or a patriot. Over many decades there has been a
consistent moral decline and a recession of values upon which this nation was
founded to the point that, what once was right is now thought wrong and what is
wrong is deemed to be right. The America in which I grew up was a nation
whose citizens, young and old alike, were proud to stand at attention, hands
over heart, and pledge – make a solemn promise – to honor our flag and the
great country for which it stands. It could have been during a parade, daily in
our classrooms, at a ball game or countless other venues. We believed and
felt it was a privilege to be a citizen of the greatest nation on earth and to
give our allegiance in return. People (including my own ancestors) immigrated legally
to this great country with a desire to learn the “American way”, to speak the
English language, to succeed, and to provide a better life for their families
than they could in any other nation. America was the great land of
opportunity. . .
In this present era our beliefs and the privileges we
coveted have turned to demands and a generation of those who feel they are
entitled and who definitely have a case of the “give-mes”. They feel no sense
of belonging, no sense of allegiance and living in America (many illegally)
holds no value for them. Thus, reciting an oath to allegiance has slipped into
the past as our country slips further and further away from “one nation under God”.
. .
Although our sense of altruism, appreciation and love of our country should be
modeled in our homes, it most often becomes the responsibility of the public
school to do the work of the home. Reciting the pledge of allegiance causes students
to do something – to promise - to honor – in a unified manner, together, for 15
seconds each day. That can only be a good thing.
As a proud American citizen, I value the pledge of allegiance for what it
stands for me – a nation founded on the principles of religious freedoms, of
good, of morals and values that declared the difference between rights and
wrongs; a nation that was once envied as the greatest on earth; a nation that,
although it struggled within its own boundaries about the color of skin rather
than the quality of a person’s character, is still the nation whose
compassion is first to reach a helping hand to any other nation in need; a
country where free enterprise was once invited to flourish and grow; a country
so great that thousands swarmed its shores seeking refuge from harsh dictators;
and a country who birthed some of the greatest inventors and entrepreneurs this
world has ever known. A Christian nation that God had blessed.
“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."
This is my America - this is the America I value. - Rhonda
