Pledges

I was looking at my podcast stats, and noticed that one particular podcast has been downloaded more than three times as often as any other podcast.

That’s the podcast where I talked about the Tickler, and the swirly bread, and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Day of Prayer.

I’m not sure which part of the podcast is attracting all the attention, but I’m going to guess it was my deconstruction of the Pledge of Allegiance. At least, I’m hoping that’s the part that is getting noticed. I mean the bread is yummy, and the Snapshot Moment of the Tickler is sweet, but that Pledge – that’s important. At least, it’s pretty important to me, because the Pledge is one of several symbols we have in America that should be binding us together. Because I think it should get wider exposure, I’m going to post a transcript of that section of my podcast here. If anyone wants to copy it and spread it about – please do. Just let them know it came from me, OK?

The original Pledge of Allegiance is actually pretty good, and doesn’t contain anything to upset most organizations: ‘I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’

See, it’s simple.

Let’s go through it:

“I” – that means me, I am making this pledge, so it’s personal and important.

“pledge” – that means promise with overtones of will take care of, a binding oath, and isn’t that a nice thing to do for our contry?

“allegiance” – that means loyalty with overtones of responsibility and duty, important things for a country so it stays together.

“to my Flag” – “Flag” is capitalized because it is being used here as a proper noun and a symbol, standing in for every person in our country. The words themselves are possessive – it’s my country, and I’ve just made a binding oath of loyalty to all my fellow countrymen who live here. We aren’t being distanced from one another by saying “the Flag”, and we certainly don’t need any reminders that this Flag belongs to the United States of America, because we claimed it with that single word – “my”.

“and the Republic” – that’s our government, this reminds us that we have a representational government where our voices can be heard so we can fulfill our oath of responsibility towards our country. Some people may think, after all the news talk and all, that our country is a democracy. It’s not. It’s a Republic. And we need to rememebr that. We need to remember that our voices count only when we make them heard to our elected employees, who then speak for us in the governmental arena. If we don’t talk to our elected employees, how will they know what we want and need? It is vitally important that we remember America is a Republic – and repeating this oath reminds us of that. Nifty, how it works out that way, isn’t it?

“for which it stands” – these words return us back to the flag and remind us again that it is a symbol, a symbol of all of us gathered together, supporting one another.

“one nation” – this confirms we are working together as a single country, not a bunch of micronations each haring off in their own directions, or bunches of special interest groups out for themselves at the expense of everyone else. We are acknowledging that we are all a part of this country, this government. And we all bear responsibility for how it works.

“indivisible” – another affirmation that we stand together, support one another, using the symbol of this Flag to remind us of that fact. Where before we acknowledged we were one nation, here we’re saying we won’t allow ourselves to be divided – harking back to the word “allegiance”. We may bicker like children among ourselves, but we have the same goals, same aspirations – freedom, American freedom – and to that end, we put aside our differences and we stand together.

“with liberty and justice” – Ah, sweet freedom, with the promise of enough organization to guarantee justice. Not fairness, mind, but justice, a whole other fish. Life isn’t fair, and the Pledge doesn’t try to make things fair, only just and equal, with the freedom to make it so and keep it so.

“for all.” – Repeat that – “for all.” This is what America is about. All means every American, regardless of skin color, size, shape, gender orientation, wealth, class, education, health, age, employment, artistic ability, family, cleanliness, speech patterns, abilities, religion, hobbies, fiscal abilities, or even trustworthiness. It means every single human born as a citizen of this country and every single human who completes all the requirements for naturalization. It does indeed exclude those who are neither born here nor naturalized as citizens. This Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t include people who are citizens of other countries represented by other Flags – they have their own pledges, promises, commitments. This one is ,i>ours</i>, for us, by us, and to us.

So, I ask, what’s wrong with using it? It’s a pretty good pledge, even if it was written to promote the quadricentennial celebration of Columbus Day. I wouldn’t mind adding the word Bellamy left off because he felt our country wasn’t ready for it 1892: “equality”, modifying “liberty and justice for all.” to “equality, liberty, and justice for all.”. As long as we understand that “equality” doesn’t mean “mediocre” or “lowest common denominator”, but a level playing field, a place where each of us can reach for and even achieve our dreams through the opportunities provided by a supportive citizenry and country.

An oath is a serious thing, and asking us to make oaths that are exclusionary, divisive, and distancing sort of defeats the purpose of an oath made to our fellow citizens. The Pledge of Allegiance, as it currently stands, tampered with by several different special interest groups, is not an oath that is suitable for each and every American to make. It excludes citizens, and it divides them into different categories.

The original oath is suitable for every single American to make. It is an oath of support to the country and the citizens, and in no way makes demands that would interfere with their gods. As a Numenist, the original oath is a good one, one I could stand behind. I think every American citizen could in good conscience uphold the oath as it was originally written.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the original Pledge of Allegiance are the foundations of our country, and should be known by every citizen.

They give us freedoms and allow us to combat the fears that our current government administration inculcates into us. If every American knew, by heart, what our rights and duties are, we couldn’t be bullied by those who do know them and cast them aside.

Distancing ourselves ever further away from it only makes matters worse.
It is the Numenous Way to be involved, to work towards community and cohesion, and so, with that firmly in mind, Numenists are encouraged to use the original Pledge, and to explain that it is the Pledge in this form that reminds us we are making this promise to ourselves – for us, by us, to us.

So, there it is, a brief and powerful sentence that can bring a nation together, if we’d just allow the words to seep into our every action, take to heart that we are one nation – one large fertile field of many crops. Even the weeds and bugs contribute.