With Dante now attending a public charter school, hubby and I were faced with the fact that he was going to have to learn and recite the (stupid) Pledge of Allegiance everyday. We waffled with the notion of teaching it to him beforehand without the whole "under god" phrase since it was not part of the original pledge and since Dante only knows the word "god" as being a word that we don't yell or use because it may "hurt people's feelings".
Before you start yelling at me that I've taught my son that "god" is a bad word, STFU and hear me out. We taught him that phrases like "oh my god" should be replaced with "oh my gosh" because for some people the word "god" is important and we don't want to be rude. We also taught him the difference between, "Look at that amazing painting of Jesus Christ" and "Jesus Christ, that painting just fell on me". Big difference.
Anyway, we waffled with teaching Dante the pledge beforehand without the 1950s Cold War era addendum but decided against it, believing that this would be a form of indoctrination that we, as Atheist parents, are completely against when it comes to religion and the like. Let him learn and say the Pledge, whatever. It's not going to turn him into an evangelist sidewalk bible thumper. Hell, I played the "virgin" Mary in a Xmas pageant when I was a kid and I turned out ok. I also recited the pledge throughout my elementary years and was not scarred from it. (Incidentally, I now do not say or stand for the pledge because I understand it to be a load of bullshit and I don't "pledge allegiance" to any flag or country. My allegiance is with my family, so stuff it. But, as an adult, that is my choice and my right.)
So the other day, Dante came home from school and with a solemn look on his face he said to me, "Mommy, I learned the Pledge of Unlegion today and I said the "under god" part". I told him, "That's great! You can say it if you want to and if you don't want to you don't have to. Just do what you want!" And I asked him to recite it for me:
I Pledge Unlegion to flags of the United States of America
And to restructive of witches stands
One Nation ....(then he whispered) Under God
With Limiting and Just Dance for All.
I clapped and said, "Great Dante! Now do you know what all of that means?"
And he calmly replied, "I have no idea, Mommy".
Exactly.
6 comments:
Lol. I had that with "the Lord's Prayer"...... I thought it said "our Father, who aren't in heaven". and "lead a snot into temptation"...... It made no sense to me at all, but I recited it with everyone else anyway! I doubt that the pledge will traumatize him.
When I was in 6th grade, my English teacher had us all WRITE the Pledge and hand it in. She was disgusted by the fact that we didn't even know what the words WERE, let alone what they meant. She broke it down and actually TAUGHT us the pledge, instead of the rote recitation. I have a lot of respect for her for doing that.
I tell my kids Will(9)and Ali(6) that God is an imaginary friend that many, many people have, but they don't know he's not real.
I also mention that these same people may get upset if you tell them that. Will plays his cards close and hasn't told anyone, while Ali stated to her kindergarten teacher that God does not exist.
What did the Kindergarten teacher say?!?!?
"Everyone can believe what they want."
loved this post! I remember infuriating my high school biology teacher, who was a war veteran, when I not only refused to stand for the pledge but also used that minute every morning to lean back in my chair with my feet on my desk. This makes me sound like a jerk, I know, but I was actually a really kind kid! I just didn't believe in pledging my alligence to a piece of fabric waving through the air on a TV.
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