Pledge
 

I pledge an affinity to the ideals
of the United States of America
And to the freedoms for which they stand:
One humanity, indivisible
With liberty and justice for all.

I dig it.
:snap:

Ooh, you've done it now. God's gonna be maaaad.

The under God thing aside, I never much liked pledging allegiance to a flag. The whole flag culture thing always seemed to border on idolitry.

Oh no. Do we have to define what these ideals are? That sounds like a fun conversation!

MBC might have to buy me a new monitor. Lol!!!:snap:

Thus I discarded "allegiance". I like the much more fluid implication of "affinity".

You might have to wait a little while for that. I'm saving up for an espresso maching for scaeagles once he has at least some limited control of his sphincter again. :)

Yes! I had the devil's own time getting permission to not salute the flag every morning in high school. (even though I believe it's illegal to require students to do so.) The argument is that the flag represents the ideals, but I disagree. The flag represents a political entity, and while the ideals may be implicit, they're also not stated outright and therefore can be conceptually separated. I'd much rather explicitly pledge to the ideals.

I never had any problem for teachers for not saying it. They were more caught up on how it was possible that I wouldn't want anything done for my birthday than me not pledging allegiance or putting my hand over my heart during the national anthem.

The "one humanity, indivisible" is where I get caught up since humanity is almost infinitely dvisible and people like it that way.

I meant it in the sense that I believe that the base freedoms, if not the exact practice, at the heart of the ideals of the founding of this country should be applied to all people, not just those that happen to be citizens here.

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law"

Is that the Republican party motto?

I learned it from Alister Crowley myself

In person?

Great concept. :snap:

I agree with Alex about the "indivisible" part. How about "Humanity, different and alike, with liberty and justice for all"?

Heh, I can't imagine having children repeat this before a day of school ;)

Nope. I'm holding to indivisible. Any division is purely superficial. I think it's important to emphasize that we're all humans, regardless of nationality, and that ideals such as due process and basic humane treatment should hold whether we can justify it by international law or not.

I've come to the realization that the Pledge - in any form - means absolutely nothing to me. I think the only thing I have "pledged" are my marriage vows - and even then wwe didn't use that particular vernacular.

I can dig that.

NA brings up an interesting point and it makes me wonder - can you pledge your affinity? It's an interesting word pairing.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of "pledge" either, but this of course using it was kinda necessary for the dramatic effect and all. Though I kinda like the juxtiposition of the solidity of "pledge" with the fluidity of "affinity".

Very interesting. Where are our semantics scholars?

Best day of school ever...

Sometimes I feel I live a life of hypocracy, advocating freedom yet mandating conformity at school. This place does not lend itself to anarchy :(

I advocate semi-nonconformity at school to my children. It's a fine line to walk, believe me. We teach our children the difference between being disrespectful and blindly doing what you're told. You can question a teacher's motives and methods without coming off like a spoiled brat -- but it takes practice.

The golden rule at our house is: You're more likely to get in trouble with us if you do what you're told without knowing why than if you question the teachers and the system at every turn.