I'm Impressed

Credit to the artist: Aaron- "saying the pledge with my brother, even though he's in the class next door"
The other day the boys came home from school with this little announcement that they had learned the Pledge of Allegiance. With a little help, both of them were able to recite the Pledge, and they did so with pride. I admit that I was impressed, not so much with the boys' ability to memorize, but with the school for allowing them to publicly say the words, under God. Considering it's history, I was pleasantly surprised. Only a few short years ago, our middle school students were banned from saying the words Christmas and Hanukkah during their "wintertime performance". It made quite an impact when students, sporting their black and white outfits (for the colors red and green were forbidden), broke out into "We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday", in lieu of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". This episode caused such a storm in this town that I turned on the ten o'clock news, only to find my husband on T.V., freezing his backside off, while holding his picket sign that read, "Merry Christmas!" in enormous letters.

The scenerio got started when some wing-nut atheist decided that any sort of religious reference mentioned in the school was not to be tolerated. The school board got carried away in their response and their actions backfired. The townspeople were outraged over the ridiculous restrictions placed on the middle school students and their protests managed to earn them an apology from the superintendent (who by the way, is no longer the superintendent- let's hear it for democracy)!

From what I understand, the state decides whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance is offered to the students in public schools. Unlike my native state, which has decided that the term 'under God' is offensive, Massachusetts continues to place emphasis on the importance of patriotism over 'politically correct' terminology. At least for now, my children will pay tribute to the red, white, and blue in school.