Does the Pledge of Allegiance still have any real meaning?

So there are a lot of opinions about the Pledge of Allegiance- here's one more.

A lot of people believe that the Pledge should be recited in school every day, starting with the very first day of a child's school career.  Others believe that daily recitation isn't needed anymore. So, do our children need to start off their days reciting something that they have absolutely no comprehension of?   Does it need to be chanted to kick off every sporting event from high school  to the beginning of NASCAR races?  Does it need to be recited as often as is?

My unequivocal answer is no!  Not because I'm some unpatriotic member of the body politic, but because by saying it over and over it loses it's meaning. It's like saying a single word over and over, it starts to sound funny after a while and doesn't really make sense anymore.  Ask any high school student what it really means and very few will be able to tell you. We teach kids to say this at such a young age that by the time they become adults they've said it so much that they take it for granted.  By the time children are young adults it becomes something that is just recited because it always has been, the meaning isn't there anymore. How many of us really knew what  the heck we were being taught at six years old?  Did we really know why we were saying those lines with those words that, at six,  we didn't know the meaning of and could barely pronounce?   Ok, so at six, seven and eight years old it may seem important (because we were told it was)  but how about at 15, 16, and 17?  Do kids even hear what they are saying at that point?

I'm not saying that it should never be said.  Of course it should be.  But we should give meaning back to the Pledge.  We should teach kids to say it at a more appropriate age.  The verses should be taught along side the history of the Pledge, or at least the watered down version that has become the accepted history. Though I do think the complete history should be taught as part of high school history classes. (another topic for another post).  The point of this is that we should say it when it really matters. And for some reason I just don't think that is at the beginning of every baseball game or car race.  I think it should be reserved for more important events.  Graduations, championship games -high school, college, professional and national- and national celebrations and remembrances.  We should be proud to say it by reserving it for truly reflective and proud moments.

Bare With Me

Decided to set up this blog so I can write more in depth about the issues that I'm very opinionated about. Figured this would be a better format rather than filling up other social network sites with some of my more unfocused and limited ramblings. And let's face it, 140 characters just isn't enough.  But bare with me!  I'm not really all that tech savvy (that's why I chose Blogger and not WordPress!) so I'm kind of learning this as I go.  I know, I know.  A twelve year old could probably figure this out with no problem!  So, if you happen to read some of my rantings (and I hope you will) don't  be surprised if the page looks different every time  you view it.  I will be trying out different things until I get it just the way I want it.  I'm a little limited on what I can do on here and I'm still learning all of the ins and outs!  So welcome to the journey of a politically frustrated liberal stuck in sea of deep deep red!!  I hope you enjoy what ends up on here, and I hope you will comment and share anything you like and even the stuff you don't like, all feedback is good feedback, right?