Flag Day

What’s the first thing the wolf will do when you catch him dressed in sheep’s clothing?
…Call you a sheep hater.

I have a five year old son who will be starting Kindergarten soon. With that comes the daily morning tradition of reciting the pledge of allegiance. And that’s cool I suppose. In terms of him participating in it goes, I can take it or leave it. I recited the pledge in school and I really don’t think that the act of doing so harmed me in any way, nor do I believe for a second that reciting the pledge made me a better American than someone who may have opted out of that activity.

What does concern me though, in a general sense, is a young child’s limited ability to fully grasp the weight of the words. To put your hand over your heart and “pledge” your “allegiance” to something…
That’s pretty fuckin heavy. And to have a young child do something like that without at least trying to give them a deeper understanding of what that means and what they are pledging their allegiance to — seems to be a rather un-American conditioning of blind faith which is being thrust upon our children.

Again, I am not against the idea of my children participating in the pledge of allegiance. But I am by all means going to do my best to not only give them a clear understanding of what it means to “pledge” your “allegiance” to something; but also make sure they know what they are pledging their allegiance to. And that it is their choice to make. That even as children, there exist certain things which are exclusively and wholly owned by them. Things like:

Your personal opinion

Your taste

Your feelings toward others

And by God your “allegiance” to something…

These are all things that are yours and only yours to determine for yourself, regardless of your age. To suggest otherwise would be un-American.

And that brings forward another point which I intend to make very clear to my children. Far too many gross misinterpretations of “Americanism” seem to get wrapped in the flag. There is no qualification required to get a flag. It can be attached to anything by anyone. So it’s pretty important for our children and all of us for that matter to remain aware of the fact that a person or thing does not necessarily represent true American values simply because they are dressed in the flag. This is a very important point to me personally, because as an American, I am genuinely offended and embarrassed by the right wing’s relative success at making patriotism synonymous with war mongering. Reasonable forward thinking realists whom have clear sight of the true and very positive meaning of patriotism need to take the flag back from extreme right wing fundamentalist before the stains of what those extremists represent blot out what it represents.

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

— Sinclair Lewis, The first American writer, to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

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