that darned Pledge of Allegiance again
[heavily excerpted from here, referenced by BoingBoing]
"Your son, '8', has been suspended for the day. Come here and pick him up."
So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn't laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets,
and to the galaxy for which it stands,
one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.
I'm sitting here, working on computer things, and Mr. 8 sits in the living room. He has to write the "real" pledge of allegiance fifty times before he can return to school. But first he's watching Star Trek. Damn straight.The blog has a lot of comments, and much later in the discussion we find that 8 did not have to write the pledge 50 times and he got off with a warning. Also, another parent reported 8 to the principal, not the teacher.
For those who are not US citizens, the official pledge is:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
"under God" was not part of the original pledge. It was added by Congress in 1954, and it has caused considerable controversy (separation of church and state, freedom of religion, etc). Pledge history
My friend Tim Kendall suggests an Anguish Languish pledge:I pled jelly, gents, two duff lag
after you night oats dates off a merry car,
an tooth ary pub lick four widgets tans,
wan nay show nun dirk odd
wit lee but tea an juiced is four owl.
"Your son, '8', has been suspended for the day. Come here and pick him up."
So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn't laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets,
and to the galaxy for which it stands,
one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.
I'm sitting here, working on computer things, and Mr. 8 sits in the living room. He has to write the "real" pledge of allegiance fifty times before he can return to school. But first he's watching Star Trek. Damn straight.The blog has a lot of comments, and much later in the discussion we find that 8 did not have to write the pledge 50 times and he got off with a warning. Also, another parent reported 8 to the principal, not the teacher.
For those who are not US citizens, the official pledge is:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
"under God" was not part of the original pledge. It was added by Congress in 1954, and it has caused considerable controversy (separation of church and state, freedom of religion, etc). Pledge history
My friend Tim Kendall suggests an Anguish Languish pledge:I pled jelly, gents, two duff lag
after you night oats dates off a merry car,
an tooth ary pub lick four widgets tans,
wan nay show nun dirk odd
wit lee but tea an juiced is four owl.