In case anyone missed it, my daughter has been having an issue with being forced (or, asked) to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in school. One of her teachers this year specifically requested that everyone stand, but my daughter continues to sit. I was worried about it, so the next time she had that class first period I asked what happened with the Pledge.
She looked confused for a second and then said “Oh! I guess we forgot to say it.” Wait- how can you forget? It comes over the school’s PA system! That class is jazz band, and she explained that everyone must have been talking and getting out their instruments and didn’t hear when it was time for the Pledge.
They forgot about the Pledge? What kind of school is this, anyway? Just kidding- I’m relieved it wasn’t a problem. And also slightly annoyed that the teacher went from telling everyone to stand, to ignoring it. Hopefully it will be a non-issue from now on.
But it got me thinking about my own feelings towards the Pledge of Allegiance, and I realized what it evokes most in me is nostalgia for my childhood.
In elementary school we said the Pledge every day. In first grade, we followed it up by singing “My Country Tis of Thee” (Aw! We must have been so cute!) But by middle school, I don’t remember saying the Pledge. Either we didn’t have it, or we didn’t stand and acknowledge it? Both those scenarios seem strange, but I just don’t remember it at all. If anything, I thought of it as something for little kids.
Nowadays, I guess I’m neutral on the Pledge. But I love “The Star Spangled Banner.” I think the words are beautiful, and I always tear up during an Olympic medal ceremony when I hear our anthem. (side note: my elementary school music teacher had a strong opinion that our national anthem should be changed to “America the Beautiful” because she thought “The Star Spangled Banner” was too hard to sing.)
Back to the Pledge. My brother-in-law is a high school art teacher in Illinois. At his school they do say the Pledge every day but the kids can opt out. He always says it, but remains silent for “Under God” because he’s agnostic. Just for context, he’s a liberal democrat and is unhappy with many things going on in our country (obviously), but when we asked him why he says the Pledge, his answer was “Because I’m a patriotic American.”
I had mixed feelings about the concept of “patriotism,” until I realized I was getting it mixed up with “nationalism.” According to The Helpful Professor:
- Nationalism is a belief that your nation sits at the top of a hierarchy of nations. You believe your nation’s interests are inherently more important than those of any other country in the world.
- Patriotism, on the other hand, is simply the love of your country and culture. Patriots know that you can love your own nation without thinking it’s objectively better than anyone else’s.
Yes! I am a patriotic American! I hope someday my daughter will say the same, but that’s her choice- it’s a free country.
Did you say The Pledge of Allegiance in school?
Would you describe yourself as “patriotic?”
(In case you’re thinking “what does all this have to do with RUNNING?” fear not! This Friday is the last Friday of the month, which means I’ll be joining Marcia for “Runfessions.” It will be all- or mostly- about running.)
34 Responses
I’m not patriotic at all, in fact I tend to be ashamed of our country a lot of the time, both for past issues and for the way we are in the world now and the way so many people are. I’m proud of my city and retain emotional links for my county of birth (Kent) and ancestral homeland (Dorset/Somerset). I would never call myself English apart from mockingly (e.g. referring to my love of tea and need to take teabags on holiday just in case), and describe myself as British if I have to. I consider myself European (esp as I have Spanish ancestry, however distant) and have a weird emotional connection to North Africa, so I expect I’m descended from the Arabic people who conquered Spain (I certainly still look Spanish even tho 1/64 of me is officially Spanish, and if you pop me in a hijab, I can be mistaken for an Arabic woman, as a Tunisian excitedly showed me once). I am glad we’ve never had to do pledges or the other stuff, I don’t stand for the National Anthem and I tear up at everybody’s ones at sports events (I was just remembering the Commonwealth Games this time last year and how when India won the badminton most of the UK people left and we stayed there, standing out of respect, for the medal ceremony and anthem). There we go. Probably an unpopular opinion!
Well, it’s an interesting opinion! Interesting that you would call yourself “European” instead of “English.” I wonder if you can get away with that where you live more than we could here. People get angry here (not everyone, but a lot of people) if you don’t love the country.
Oh god no I am very careful who I say that to! We have rabidly nationalistic people hence Brexit (though there were other reasons people voted for Brexit) and there’s a good section of people who would be very angry with me for saying it! But your post made me think about it. I grew up in Kent on the bottom right corner of the country, able to tune into French radio, etc. which made me feel more connected, I think, too.
Does Canada have a Pledge of Allegiance!!? If so, I certainly don’t know it and don’t know if I’ve ever heard it. My kids attend a public school and there is a morning playing of the National Anthem which I think kids are asked to stand for? As far as I know, the kids don’t sing along but they learn the lyrics in music class.
Our anthem has changed in recent years and official versions now remove the word “God” in “God keep our land, glorious and free.” As I Christian, I choose to keep that lyric in but respect the fact that others don’t.
I love Canada’s national anthem and, like you, often tear up when I see the flag being raised/sung at sporting events or at a first responder funeral. These shared national experiences are powerful. I always stand when I hear our national anthem and usually sing along – I think as a kid we were expected to put our hands over our hearts, but I don’t do that now. I think my husband will take off a baseball cap if he’s wearing one?
Yes, I had forgotten about that- we put our hands over our hearts while saying the pledge. That’s interesting the lyrics of your anthem have changed! So they took out “God,” while Birchwood is saying “under God” was added to ours.
Team USA! Don’t get me wrong, I am horrified at our political situation, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the pledge. The nationalists don’t get to hijack our patriotism. If someone doesn’t want to say the pledge or wants to leave out “under God” – more power to them, it doesn’t affect me. I’m pretty lukewarm on religion and I know that “under God” was added later, but I don’t mind saying it.
So when do I say the pledge you may ask? Mostly at Boy Scout events. It’s very moving.
I feel like “back in our day” there would have been consequences if a kid refused to say the pledge so it’s huge progress that your daughter is able to sit it out with just a little teacher snark. Like you say, it is a free country.
Hmm, I didn’t know “under God” was added later. I mean… why add anything to the pledge? Whose idea was that anyway?
I can see saying the Pledge at Boy Scout meetings. I don’t think I would be uncomfortable with that.
I don’t think I would call myself patriotic, though I do appreciate the distinction between it and nationalism. I don’t really remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school, but I was in private schools from fourth grade on, and my grades 1-3 memories are fuzzy, so we may have.
As far as the national anthem, I grew up a hockey fan, so when I was a kid I called it the Boston Bruins National Anthem! I don’t remember a time when I didn’t prefer Canada’s anthem, though, and I learned the words to the French version just because I liked it. I’m used to hearing both before hockey games, but only really find it moving when it’s after some national tragedy (and how sad is that). Or once in a while when the singer has a microphone failure, and the audience takes over and sings it–that’s so moving too.
For some strange reason my mom loved the Canadian national anthem too, and we lived nowhere near Canada. But every time we would hear it- like in the Olympics- she would comment how much she liked it. It is a nice anthem!
I only rememeber saying the pledge in early elementary. I think it was dropped by 4th-5th grade?
Phil and I had a long talk about what it means to be patriotic on one of our car commutes this summer. Our debate was whether a person in the military is more patriotic than others. I feel like they are since they are devoting much of their lives to defending our country. (My BIL is a career military guy, hence the reason for the discussion.) Maybe its more accurate to say he’s a nationalist? But I still think he is more patriotic than either of us.
I have mixed feeling about patriotism. On one hand, from all my travels, I can see that we have things quite good here in terms of personal freedom and having our basic needs met like access to clean water, reliable electricity, governments that are, for the most part, not as corrupt as other countries. But i have felt less patriotic in recent years because of the political dynamics in our country and due to a more critical examination of our country’s past (e.g. slavery and residential schools). I am quiet about this, though, as I recognize all the privileges I have as an American and within my extended family, I would be majorly criticized if I ever voiced these thoughts. So I keep those convos between Phil and me! And your blog comment section I guess!
Yes, your comments are definitely welcome here! My daughter has the same criticisms you have, but without the perspective of having traveled to see other countries.
That’s a good question- are people in the military more likely to be nationalists? Probably. But I guess it’s not good to generalize.
I did say the Pledge… I didn’t think much about it at the time.
When a certain person was President, I had a hard time being Patriotic. In fact I visited France during that time, and people wondered how he couldhave been elected.
I do support our country most of the time now and of course root for US athletes in competitions.
Ha, I’m pretty sure I know what president you mean! And I know- people in other countries thought we had gone insane. It is easier to patriotic right now.
I think it’s great that you are pointing out that distinction (patriotism/being patriotic vs nationalism), as I have also seen that patriotic can be construed as one particular political leaning, and it shouldn’t be! Our country has problems and it also has positive attributes and I do suspect that is true in many other places as well — I’m just not as familiar with the intricacies.
I do not think they say the pledge at our (private, Montessori) school. I do not think my kids would be super comfortable with the ‘under god’ part if they did (generally agnostic household, cultural Judaism but not the religious part), so I think I would have heard about it! I will have to ask them after school today.
Yes, “under God” is definitely one of the things my daughter objects to. I think just about any country has problems, although like you said I’m not as familiar with them.
We did say the Pledge at school in elementary school every day before lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever said it since then, to be honest, but I know the words. I’ve never bothered to learn the words to the Star-Spangled Banner, let along sang it. It never bothered me to say the Pledge in school, but as an adult I am incredibly uncomfortable with large groups of people doing any ritual with mindlessness (think: church prayers spoken in unison, everyone singing the national anthem, etc.) because it seems like one step away from fascism and the US doesn’t need that step, as Trump has proven. So, no, I wouldn’t/don’t say the Pledge and I’ve never sung the national anthem. I’d say I’m a realistic patriot, but I don’t go for jingoism. I know I’m lucky to live in the USA, but there are also a lot of other places where it’s great to live (and others that are worse).
Yes, I guess there is something disturbing with that picture you painted. There would be something a little frightening about a large group of adults saying the Pledge.
I’m a proud and patriotic Canadian, although I do think that we as a country have much to be ashamed of, particularly with respect to our treatment of Indigenous peoples. In recent years there have been many efforts to reconcile with the absolute horrors of the past, and I am proud of that work – although there is much more to be done, of course.
We don’t have a pledge, but I do think O Canada is a great anthem. We also always sang God Save The Queen before assembly when I was young, which I’m sure they don’t do now (and not just because they changed it back to King, I just don’t think they do it anymore). Prior to school assemblies, for the past eight years or so before the singing of O Canada, someone would announce a recognition of the traditional Indigenous lands that we were residing on, which I like a lot.
Yes, I like O Canada! That’s a nice tradition of recognizing the indigenous lands- the US has plenty to be ashamed of there too.
I am so glad to see this post. And I am so glad that a) you are supporting your daughter in her belief, and b) that you distinguished between nationalism and patriotism. I am patriotic, but that very much means that I do not blindly support my country, nor do I spare her criticism when warranted. And I have a LOT of criticism to share at the moment, and we are decidedly not better than other countries at the moment. In my heart, we can’t ignore the atrocities that happened and continue to happen. I hope we can overcome. At this time, I do not say the pledge. I hope that will change.
Yes, I think it’s important to recognize that we can love our country but not everything that’s going on. It’s getting harder and harder to love our state though! I try to remind myself why I moved here in the first place. Things were different back then!
I did say the pledge growing up and never thought much about it. As many problems as our country might have, I still truly believe we are lucky to live here. I tear up every time I hear the national anthem before a race or a baseball game.
I agree- we’re very lucky.
Well, I think a lot of Americans confuse nationalism with patriotism, I am afraid.
We don’t have a Pledge of Allegiance in Germany and so no, I didn’t grow up with it or anything resembling it. It is a little bit of a strange practice to me as a European, and particularly as a German, and I can see why people (your dauthger!) opt out. I think any kind of patriotism (save for sports tournaments) has been driven out of us Germans and I find it interesting that other nations, who have committed similar humanitarian crimes as were committed during WWII) have not been dealing with this part of their past and can express love for their country more freely.
I do love my home country and I think there are a lot of good things about it but we have not adopted a form of public display.
That’s an interesting perspective. I can see how people would be very nervous about any kind of “nationalism” in Germany- but patriotism would be fine. I traveled around Germany and lived there in my 20s and 30s (for work) and there are a lot of things to love!
Interesting thoughts. As I never had to say The Pledge in school, it seems odd to me. What does it mean to pledge allegiance to a flag? Or a country?
I always considered myself patriotic, but it seems the Nationalists have perverted the meaning of the word “patriot” similar to how perceptions of what it means to be Christian have changed …..
Yes, that’s a good comparison. It was helpful to me to remember the actual meaning of “patriotism.” Interesting that you didn’t say the pledge! It is kind of an odd thing to teach to a group of five-year-olds.
We said it in grade school, but I’m pretty certain we didn’t in Junior High (we didn’t have middle school then, although it changed much later).j
My one bone with the Pledge is that I have strong feelings about separation of Church & State. I do not believe that religion has a place in government, but obviously it’s been there right from the get-go.
As much as I’m not happy with the current state of the US (or the world), I love my country deeply. If my grandparents hadn’t been able to immigrate here in the early 1900s I would not exist. Literally. The family they left behind was wiped out by the Holocaust; we don’t even know how or when.
Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for as Americans. And I totally agree that “under God” should not be in the pledge!
This is such an American thing.
We don’t do anything similar in Germany. Mostly out of historic reasons and our patriotism is shattered or a shame.
That said it was such a weird experience for me when living in the states and the Pledge was constantly said. I felt wrong for me on so many levels.
For one how can you be so proud. of. your country when it does also terrible things.
Second being German it feels cringy.
Third how was I supposed to say it when it wasn’t even my country
And I had to keep argumenting that I wouldn’t because it didn’t feel true.
and I never put my hand on my heart – another fauxpaux I often had to discuss.
But I always stood up because you can show some respect even if you don’t believe.
Hi Tobia!!! I love your perspective on this. I agree with everything you said- including the fact that there’s nothing wrong with standing, even if you don’t believe in the pledge. I’ve pointed that out to my daughter but so far she’s not doing it.
I love that you’re having this discussion! I really appreciated the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Like others have stated, I think people get the two mixed up (especially on the right). I have really complicated feelings about our country – on the one hand, I get VERY patriotic when it comes to the Olympics and seeing USA athletes win. And when I was in Canada last year, I walked on this bridge that was a border crossing, so seeing the US flag next to the Canadian flag, I got really choked up seeing our flag! Which surprised me because of my complicated feelings of the US – but maybe it’s BECAUSE of my patriotism that I feel so complicated and want us to be so much better than we are. It’s hard when we have such an awful history – stealing land, slavery, internment camps, etc – and things seem to be getting WORSE not better. But I am a patriotic American. I do love this country and I am grateful to have been born here.
Yes, we are VERY lucky to be Americans. I think it’s important to love our country but still want it to be better.
What a fascinating debate you launched, Jenny. The post was so thoughtful, and so were the comments. I have to say, I am neither a nationalist (most definitely NOT) or a patriotic American right now. I just can’t see beyond the rampant destruction of our democracy. That is colored by where I live and (of course) my political views. At the same time, I do respect those who are patriotic – but not those who would shame people who choose not to participate in things like the pledge. We are each responsible for our own behavior – and we can’t compel others to behave as we would want them to. Again, all my opinion!