My Child Can Still Say the Pledge of Allegiance _ in Our Home School
The founding fathers of this great nation knew that there
would be times when we would need inspiration and words
that would bring courage to the young and old. It is also
one of a few points of inspiration that is mixed in
everything that is taught in our home school. One of the
many meanings that the Pledge of Allegiance has meant for
me is inspiration to loyalty and courage, even considering
that it was not conceived until 1892. Formally recognized
by Congress in 1942, that's enough history for me. It is also a viewpoint that I teach at our home school, and
one that occasionally get's the teenagers in heated
discussions with public school teens as to why we should
say the pledge everyday. Let's look at the word pledge, which is what our home school
did as an exercise in history and social science. Pledge is
a solemn binding promise to do something, or a solemn
binding pledge to give something. In the Pledge of
Allegiance we are each time making a solemn binding promise
to give allegiance to the outstanding symbol of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness in this country. This is the one country in the world where you are given the
choice to make a promise to live good (life), live freely
(liberty) and live to the best of your ability with the
opportunities available (pursuit of happiness). Our children
need to be reminded that choice is available and there are
people in this country willing to help you keep those
promises. This is a reminder to our children that we promise loyalty
to the United States, 'a nation under God'. This portion
of the pledge is where the real battle has taken place, as
those who oppose saying 'under God' in school say it's not
a separation of church and state. Whether you are standing in a court house, police station,
capitol building, church, synagoge, temple I have yet seen
anyone outrun God or able to evade his presence. So the
whole separation of church and state is hinged not on what
words are said, but the prevention of one religion becoming
'the' state supported religion or the state banning all
religions. There are over 200 options of abuse of power
that are trying to be prevented by that particular section
of law and those who are worried by the words 'under god'
probably don't even know one of them. Our children need to know and respect the fact that they are
living in a country where 'under God' means something and
that right now there are thousands of men and women willing
to die for those words. This country's history is tempered
with the brave sacrifices of men and women living and dying
for their loyalty to the United States. The sacrifices of
the living are when they take the time to be in law
enforcement, healthcare, anything that helps make this great
country run free from day to day. And we should not let
them live or die in vain. Daviyd Peterson: 10-year consultant, instructor, trainer
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