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."
Yes! That is the Pledge of Allegiance that most everyone I
know in the United States grew up repeating everyday we attended public school.
It may have also been part of the daily ritual of private schools as well. I
don't know that since I always attended public schools.
So, why am I writing about it? Well, it's because I'm angry.
No! I'm not angry at the Pledge. I'm angry at the Board of Education in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota. If you haven't caught the news bite about the Sioux Falls
Board of Ed determining that there is no time in the schedule to require the
ten seconds it takes to repeat the Pledge, watch for it. It's one more little
nail in the coffin of losing what the United States is all about.
No! I'm not some conspiracy theorist. And, I'm certainly not
a big fan of government, especially when it interferes more and more with our
personal freedom, privacy and lives. But, this is different. The Pledge of
Allegiance is a ten second, 31-word recitation that bonds all Americans. It was
composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and the chairman
of a committee of state superintendents of education of the National Education
Association. The Pledge was adopted and has been part of the American way of
life ever since.
I see it as a real simple thing. We are very lucky to be
Americans. It's not that we're the only free country in the world. As of 2013
there are 90 free countries and another 58 partly free countries. But, those 31
words and the ten measly seconds it takes to recite them is the one thing that
binds American to American. They are simple words and they show respect for our
country, our Constitution, our heritage and the legacy of bravery for the
millions and millions of men and women who have fought, bled and died for our
rights and our freedoms.
A group of veterans appealed to the Sioux Falls Board of Ed
to not eliminate the Pledge of Allegiance from the high school daily schedule.
Unfortunately, the adults who make up that Board of Education showed no respect
for those men who served so the board members could have the right to show how
little respect and regard they have for those who fought for them. They simply
found that after 121 years, there just wasn't ten seconds left in the busy day
of doing a poorer and poorer job of educating our next generations to say the
Pledge and giver our future leaders a feeling of belonging to something great.
Well, maybe you don't care. Obviously, the people of Sioux
Falls don't care. It makes me sad to think that my newly adopted home state has
so little regard for our heritage. Between everything happening in Washington,
DC and to see things like this happening simply indicate to me that we may have
seen the peak of this experiment in freedom. There are even several counties in
Colorado petitioning to secede from the state of Colorado and forming a fifty-first
state.
I am not very much of a traditionalist. But, having grown up
in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, reciting the Pledge of
Allegiance and volunteering four years of my life to serve this country during
what was probably the most unpopular war in the history of the country, I do
hold that Pledge and saluting that flag dear. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
Maybe it's no longer politically correct to feel connected and have pride in
the country that has provided me with a life and opportunities I likely would
not have had in most other countries. But, this little issue just burns me up.
I guess this is one more reason for my choice to downsize,
leave my old life behind and pursue a lifestyle of "living free." One
of my objectives is to seek out those places in the U.S. where I may find
pockets and remnants of those qualities and values I remember growing up with.
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