So there's a bit of controversy about a pledge of allegiance down in Texas.
I thought the instructor's statement about the Mexican pledge activity being "a cultural thing" is interesting. To a degree, she's right. It is cultural. And much more. It's a pledge,or in other words, a statement of fidelity, oath, or promise.
Which means for this individual teacher that either these words mean absolutely nothing, or if they do have meaning, she is directing students to pledge allegiance to a foreign nation. I think it's more likely it doesn't mean anything to her. Reciting an oath to the symbol of a sovereign nation is simply an exercise. Because they're just words, and words don't mean anything unless you believe what you're saying, right?
Unfortunately, I suspect there's a lot of people in the US that believe that. Personally, I won't recite an oath to another nation. It's not an exercise to me. Words have meaning, and consequences.
That's one young lady who has my respect.
2 comments:
I agree. It's been trivialized throughout the years by being taught in such a parrot fashion in schools, without any instruction on what the Pledge means, or that it is, in fact, a solemn oath, complete with an arm gesture that reinforces this fact. It does, in fact, give me new respect for those groups, such as Seventh-Day Adventists (?) who, recognizing tha nature of the Pledge, refuse to let their children recite it in schools.
I think it's time to put this where more people can see it.
Post a Comment