Child Bullied and Mocked For Standing Up For Pledge of Allegiance in Classroom

In the Constitution Classes I lead in Temecula and Murrieta, we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance before each session. The adults in my class all participate happily, and they recite the Pledge firmly and with conviction. Sometimes, after we are finished, I tell the students that I am especially proud of the Pledge of Allegiance, because it is evidence of how great this country truly is. It was created to destroy us, and the greatness of the people of America turned the Pledge into something that unites us. . . or at least it used to.

A political editorial cartoon by Steve Breen that surfaced a couple years ago depicts a classroom full of students with their hands on their hearts, standing for the Pledge, and one child still seated with his feet kicked up on the desk. The teacher, standing next to a man in military uniform in a wheel chair with a Semper Fi sticker attached to the back, says to the boy, "Kevin, it's your right not to stand for the pledge. . . but let me introduce you to someone who can't stand because he was defending that right. . . " While searching for the cartoon so that I could get the language used by the teacher in it correctly for this post I came across a number of articles and "letters to the editor" regarding it. I was amazed at how split everyone was on the issue. A good number of the complaints indicated that Breen was depicting a situation where a poor child was being singled out for daring to have a different opinion from the rest of the class. I saw the cartoon differently. The child was told he had a right not to stand, but then was shown why it may be important to stand for the pledge, anyway. It was a teachable moment, and the teacher had the opportunity to teach.

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The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist in the hopes of leading America into reciting a nationalist oath that could lead them into the direction of turning this nation into a socialist utopia. The children, back then, did not place their hands on their hearts, but instead, extended their arms straight forward in a salute made well known fifty years later by the Nazis. During the reign of terror by Hitler in Europe, the American Pledge was changed from a salute to placing the hand over the heart, and then later also adding the words, "Under God." An attempt to destroy this nation and turn it into a socialist nation through a nationalistic collectivist oath was changed from that, into a patriotic Pledge offering sincere respect for one's country. This nation is so exceptional that we took what was meant to destroy us and turned it into something that unites us. . . or at least it used to. Today, we hear story after story about how the Pledge of Allegiance is being kicked to the curb by liberal-leaning people. The idea of a nationalistic pledge does not suit them anymore because it is no longer what it had been designed to be. The Pledge does not fit their political agenda anymore, thanks to the patriotic love of this nation by those that recite the Pledge with great sincerity, so the liberal left now wishes to discard the Pledge that was originally meant to assist their progressive cause. In a school in Arizona a child in Maricopa County was the only person in the entire classroom to stand for the pledge. As a result, the class, and the teacher, bullied and mocked the child for her decision. The teacher then recommended the child for counseling so that she could talk about her decision. Her decision to show respect for the country of her allegiance was being treated as if it was some kind of mental, or emotional, disorder. These people that mocked her were the same kind of folks that railed against Breen's editorial cartoon because it "singled out" one poor child - or as one letter writer wrote to the Union-Tribune in San Diego: "To insinuate that refusal to stand for the pledge reflects a lack of patriotism or a lack of appreciation for those defending this country is repugnant and subverts the true principles for which so many sacrifices have been made." But, apparently, bullying and mocking a child for saying the pledge, to these people, is perfectly fine. It is a sad day when the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer welcome in the public school classroom, and only lives on at political rallies that support the Constitution of the United States, private schools, and study groups like mine where the older generation, with the maturity to understand the importance of the Pledge, recites it loudly, and proudly.