Something happened to me the other day. When i was in gym the announcements came on and i stood for the moment of silence then sat when the pledge came on, Mr. Ryan came over to me and started to give me a hard time, i said to him that it is a choice to say it or not to say it, hence freedom of speach. now i dont do this to be anti american, i do it because its lost its meaning completely. If you were to look in a class room while they were doing the pledge it would look and sound like a bunch of zombies. No one really knows what it means anymore. I no longer feel a point in doing it. My dad told me that it once meant a great deal to people and if you didnt do it then you were a trader, but now we just do it because we've been told to, not because we want to or because we know the meaning of it.
I'd like to know what other people think about this and if they also even know the meaning themselves.
1 comment:
Alex,
Zombies… that’s exactly how it looks to me too!
I think it’s healthy for people to stand during the pledge out of respect, at least for all of the people who selflessly gave their own lives so that we can even stand here in the first place…
BUT, I am with you in that I have been having an especially hard time saying the pledge for the last year or so. In particular, I take issue with the closing claim of the pledge, that our country is a place with “liberty and justice for all.” I don’t feel that’s true.
But then again, a pledge is an ideal. And life hardly—if ever—lives up to our ideals. Does that mean that we should let go of our ideals? I hope not. Rather, we need to be constantly reminded of our ideals so that we may continue to strive for them. Perhaps the pledge can serve as this reminder.
Perhaps it can serve as this reminder, but I don’t feel that it actually IS serving as this reminder for most people. Instead, they become “Zombies” as you call them. What worries me is that people exhibit this zombie-like behavior in more than just the pledge… often in the majority of their day.
For me, Philosophy is about snapping out of this zombie daze, and learning how to be aware, think for yourself, discover truth and wisdom, and learn how to live with integrity.
And for me, integrity begins with saying what you mean and meaning what you say. And the pledge just might be a good place to begin. Maybe it needs to be rewritten, so that we can say it with integrity, or maybe our lives need to be rewritten. Or maybe both…
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