DEAR EDITOR:
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that our state
(part of the region presided over by the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals, actually) is about to outlaw our nation’s official
pledge.
DEAR EDITOR:
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that our state (part of the region presided over by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, actually) is about to outlaw our nation’s official pledge.
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.
As a boy, I recited these powerful words in school each morning. However, it has been on rare occasions that I have stopped to ponder their meaning. I’d like to take a moment now to delve into some of the key words and phrases:
Pledge – a solemn vow or promise, not to be broken.
Allegiance – devotion, loyalty, demonstrated by a willingness to sacrifice.
Flag – the “stars and stripes,” a collection of white stars on a field of blue represents the substance of our great nation. The red on white stripes represent the ultimate sacrifice that was made to create and to maintain it.
United – brought together in common cause.
Republic – our government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Nation – a body of people, united.
God – The creator who has endowed us with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Liberty – the condition of being free, with an implication of wisdom and voluntary restraint.
Justice – fair treatment for all in accordance with accepted ethical law.
All – everyone, without exception.
In making this pledge, one promises, in remembrance of those fallen, undying loyalty towards the great purpose of our nation: that all should be able to live in freedom, without fear of unjust treatment, in the belief that all have an intrinsic value and are ascribed certain rights.
In 1942, Congress made The Pledge of Allegiance our official oath, but it was originally published and began to be recited daily in schools across our land in 1892. Since that time, the Pledge has been modified three times. The last modification, approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, was the addition of the words “under God.”
The following words were found in the materials that were circulated with the original pledge in 1892: “Let the flag float over every school-house in the land and the exercise be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duty of citizenship.”
Let us all hope that, in the absence of this pledge, our nation’s children will somehow develop a love of country and a deep and abiding appreciation and respect for the sacrifices that have been made in order to ensure our way of life. I fear, however, that the next generation will get the message that such a pledge is somehow a bad thing; that our country isn’t worth their allegiance, and that the sacrifices of those who died to preserve, protect, and defend our union are not important. Who will impress upon our youth the patriotic duty of citizenship?
It is our patriotic duty to raise our children to respect their country, and those who died so that they could live in freedom. This is a very concrete way that we can make good on our pledge. Once this daily recitation has been expunged from the school system, will you respond by picking up this task and making it a regular ritual in your home, by teaching your children through word and deed, the great price that has been paid for their freedom and the great responsibility it places on their shoulders?
I intend to keep that promise that I first made so many years ago. How about you?
Tom Drake, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, March 5 to ed****@ga****.com
