Patriot's Day

[My I]

The project I'm currently working for my company is a Jr High school renovation. (all new data and voice networks and cabling, cable TV to classrooms, classroom sound reinforcement, new PA system, etc.) For the past couple of weeks most of my time has been spent in the master closet, which is where the mic for the PA system is located.

A couple weeks ago, first day of school, the principal comes into the MC to do the Pledge of Allegiance and the morning announcements. I stopped punching cables so I wouldn't interupt him with the noise. The principal, a "Doctor", got halfway through the Pledge and started stammering.

He forgot the Pledge of Allegiance!

It only took me a second to realize he was stuck and I prompted him:

"With liberty...."

"With liberty.... And... And.... Freedom.... And...."

"And Justice....."

"And justice forever."

I was SERIOUSLY embarrassed for him. How can you forget the pledge of Allegiance? This is the oath that every American has made with their country. I wrote it off as first day of school, nervous, too many things on his mind and so on. But I also wondered, at that moment, how many people remember the Pledge? I've seen professional singers screw up the National Anthem on National TV. Granted a few of them were Canadian. Don't get me wrong here I have nothing against Canadians, but why do we have Canadians singing OUR National Anthem at our own sporting events?

I didn't think much more about it until today. September 11th. A day that nearly three thousand civilians, not military, lost their lives to an act of terrorism from a foriegn entity. A day we should all remember vividly. But we don't. "It's over and done with. It wasn't my life lost." It's not important to most people anymore.

This morning that same principal, "Doctor", ("I'm far more educated than you") walked into the MC and made the morning anouncements, including a few about today being Patriots Day and one in particular from Govornor Strickland. Then he turned the mic off and started to leave.

I stopped him; "No Pledge of Allegiance today?"

I have never seen a black man turn so red. He turned the mic back on, led the school in the Pledge and finally turned the mic off again. Then he thanked me for reminding him and even called me a lifesaver.

It got me thinking again. How do you make three announcements about Patriots Day, including holding a minute of silence for for the victims and police and firefighters that lost thier lives, and forget the Pledge? Then I wondered, not about how many Americans remember the Pledge, but how many people really understand what it really means.

I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of The United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands.
One Nation
Under God
Indivisable
With liberty
And Justice
For all

What does it mean? What does it REALLY mean to you?

What does it mean to me?

I pledge (SOLEMNLY promise) allegiance (absolute loyalty)
To the flag (The symbol, the worldwide representation)
Of the United States of America (MY home, My country)
And to the Republic (ALL of us, people and government of the people, by the people and for the people)
For which it stands (Burn that flag and you burn ME)
One Nation (Not black. Not white. Not hispanic. Not Native American.Not Asian. Not Catholic. Not Protestant. Jewish.Not Pagan..... ONE!)
Under God (Take that one as you will as it is one of our LIBERTIES)
Indivisable (Stop fighting each other and stand up for us all)
With liberty (Freedom)
And Justice (FAIR treatment)
For ALL (Everyone. Not JUST me. Not JUST you. FOR EVEY SINGLE ONE OF US. Think about that the next time you vote on an issue.)

Today I was reminded of the words of of a former President. JFK demended, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

So what have you done for your country, all of the rest of us, lately?

Here's an idea: Start by remembering the Pledge of Allegiance. Remembering what that flag stands for. What The United States of America is all about. What it means to be an American.

Are you a Patriot?

 

[YoursSINSerely]

I love my flag and my country. Thank you for spelling this all out for us.

 

[sr71plt]

I was SERIOUSLY embarrassed for him. How can you forget the pledge of Allegiance?

I'm capable of forgetting my telephone name and my children's name occasionally--and did so before I was old. I was a stage actor and sometimes could remember the lines of everyone on the stage but mine.

I wouldn't read too much into clutching on the Pledge.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I learned the Pledge when I was in Kindergarten, many, many years ago. I was four years old at the time and didn't understand just what it meant, but it was carefully explained to me. This was before the inclusion of "under God" which I would just as soon they would eliminate. We recited it before every school day until I got into high school, and I stopped doing it then. I have recited it a few times since then, and I always stumble over the "new" part.

 

[amicus]

Hello, My I, and welcome to the forum...

The very concept of Nationality, thus Patriotism, has been under fire since the end of world war two, or perhaps more accurately, the 60's & 70's, offspring of a generation dismayed by war and death and the adulation of the Fatherland that brought forth the very worst in mankind.

The widespread feeling is that there is a danger in pledging allegiance to any flag or nation or expressing patriotic feelings towards any nation.

The 'goose-stepping' North Koreans are an example of total belief in a system.

I would rather see more attention paid in all levels of education, to the principles upon which America was founded and the history of our growth and what has been accomplished.

Thanks for the thread, appreciated...

Amicus

 

[Dragonlipz]

Hello, My I, and welcome to the forum...

The very concept of Nationality, thus Patriotism, has been under fire since the end of world war two, or perhaps more accurately, the 60's & 70's, offspring of a generation dismayed by war and death and the adulation of the Fatherland that brought forth the very worst in mankind.

The widespread feeling is that there is a danger in pledging allegiance to any flag or nation or expressing patriotic feelings towards any nation.

The 'goose-stepping' North Koreans are an example of total belief in a system.

I would rather see more attention paid in all levels of education, to the principles upon which America was founded and the history of our growth and what has been accomplished.

Thanks for the thread, appreciated...

Amicus

Mon Ami,
(as usual) has dispensed knowledge that each and every one of you morons could benefit from - if you were smart enough to follow it.......

Sadly, you aren't..........

 

[Stella_Omega]

I read this very same screed back when Newt Gingrich was pointing a loaded Kenn Starr at Bill Clinton.

This is a writer's forum, write something new.

 

[rgraham666]

Um, one thing that any covert operative sent into a country is to learn the cultural touchstones like the back of their hands. Any Al-Qaeda terrorist in America will be able to recite it without a hitch.

So I fail to see what patriotism and the ability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance have to do with each other.

 

[Liar]

Are you a Patriot?

Only as long as being loyal to my country is not in conflict with being loyal to my ethics.

Loving a flag is just a fetish. (No, I don't measn a sexual one, pervs.)

 

[Dragonlipz]

"For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a taste that the protected will never know"......

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I thought the last part of the Pledge went

For liberty and justice for all.
Play ball.

 

[My I]

I thought the last part of the Pledge went

For liberty and justice for all.
Play ball.

You are either my point personified, or you're Canadian.