Thursday, May 26, 2005

The Trouble With the Pledge

The kids at the middle school are at it again. I was on my AM run and passed by the local public school. On the grounds were the teachers and children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

The problem is not necessarily the God part of it. The thing that troubled me was the lack of conviction in their voices. Droning on they recite something for the sake of getting done with it. I get the impression that they really are not believing what they are saying, sort of like when I was asked to say 10 Hail Mary's for swearing at my sister after confession.

Update (8:50PM): Lady Liberty brings up a good comment to this post. I thought I would hot link to my prior post about the Pledge for those who don't like to scroll.

4 comments:

Golf Grouch said...

I think kids don't understand the meaning because they see it as a daily chore. That's what happened with me.
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The Library Lady said...

Agnostic as I am, that's not my problem with my kids saying the Pledge. It's the bit about "with liberty and justice for all".

I stopped saying it around 6th grade just for that. And until it's true, I'll squirm when I hear my kids saying it......

Unknown said...

Dear LL,

Thanks for the comment. If you look down a bit I posted about this very topic yesterday. Okay, I'll go back and make a link in this post should anyone else be interested on my prior thoughts on the pledge, liberty, and justice.

SheaNC said...

I've always felt uncomfortable with the pledge of allegiance, and it's such a hot-button issue I've never mentioned it before...