A Regurgitated Pledge...

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...
             The first line to a flag, to an item that gets worn and tattered.
             A piece of cloth that will eventually deteriorate.
We pledge allegiance not to one another,
not to God due to freedom of religion,
but to an inanimate object.

And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God...
            One nation of many people
            with the freedom to believe in anything or nothing at all.
            Yet we claim we're one nation under God.
            Even if we have freedom of religion, we're one under God.  
If that is the case, why can't we just live by the golden rule?


Indivisible...
           I don't know when our pledge originated, but the US is a series of divisions:
                                North and South,
                                Black and White,
                                Male and Female,
                                Immigrants and Illegal Aliens,
                                Homosexual and Heterosexual,
                                Marriage and Civil Union,
What will the next division be?

With liberty and justice for all...
           The last time I said our pledge was at my half-sister's graduation.
           The pledge touched me in a special way
           as I sat intermingled with Hispanic and Black people.
           This last line just struck a chord with me.

Liberty, justice, and all are such interesting words.
In one respect, they are clear cut and self-explanatory,
but on the other hand they are very abstract, self-defined,
and extremely personal.
I wonder how the author defined them or what his intent was behind those words.
How do we take them now and how does context affect them?
Are we idealistic when thinking in terms of the pledge
and turn a blinder to the harsh realities?
Or does it change with age and experience like it has for me?

The word that gets me is this vague "all."
America's concept of all is and has been perpetually changing.
Once it was all white elite men, then it was men,
then men and women, and it keeps going.
When will "all" truly be what it says?
When will we stop playing God and understand we can't play the role of judge?

When will we see?
When will we change?





"Love is so difficult, but hate is so clean." --Clark Kent, Smallville Season 7, episode 1