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Pride and patriotism revisited

January 09, 2003 ~ 3:15 p.m.

The other night, the wife and I had a stimulating conversation about standards of patriotism. It�s nothing that I haven�t already discussed here, but it brought up an interesting revelation for me.

I recited the Pledge of Allegiance for her. For any foreign readers not familiar with it, the pledge is:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag

Of the United States of America

And the Republic for which it stands

One Nation under God

Indivisible, with Liberty

And Justice for All.

She took a moment to take that in, and then said, �You mean, you had to say that in school?�

�Every day of class until high school,� I replied.

Again, good little keep-your-patriotism-hidden-inside Brit that she is, the wife�s eyes lit up with surprise and try as she might, she could not contain the �bloody hell� from escaping her mouth. I had to understand, you see, that such renditions of serious-sounding pledges to one�s nation while standing up and saluting the flag every morning for eight years was a very foreign concept to her. She told me so.

�Mind you,� she added, almost as an afterthought, �it is a good thing, I suppose.�

�There�s no supposition about it. It is a good thing,� I asserted. I could feel my arrow-tipped tail twitching with a bit of irritation.

�I said it�s a good thing,� she replied. �But what about foreign students?�

�I�m sure, in these days of political correctness, they have their own lawyers prepared to slam a federal case down on the school that dares to make them recite the pledge, with full backing of the so-called American Civil Liberties Union, dearest.�

�Yeah. But don�t they have the right?�

�To disrespect the land giving them a free education, you mean?� For some reason, I began to picture the more radical elements of society � Hispanics who care more for Cinco de Mayo than their host nation, blacks who have turned civil rights from statutes of equality to an extremist religion, self-hating, guilt-racked whites, and so forth � the sort of elements in American society who have worked feverishly to tear the fabric of the nation apart. �No, hon. They don�t.�

�What, even a foreign exchange student only in the country for a year or less?�

I regarded that particular volley she shot at me in pensive silence. Wouldn�t they, her argument went, feel as if they were being turn-coat to their own country, a place they will go back to after their session in the U.S was finished? Perhaps they would never step foot in the U.S. again after their little stint on these shores, she urged me to consider.

�Well,� I said. �How about, as a sign of gratitude for the fact that they�re in the country, that their parents are in the country, and that they�re receiving an education for free, that they stand up during the pledge. No saluting, no recital. Just standing.�

That is something we could instantly both agree on as a compromise.

Not everyone is going to agree on standards of acceptable levels of patriotism. Plenty of Americans themselves see patriotic fervor, especially in the wake of 9/11, as akin to jingoism. Unfortunate, but there you are. Nevertheless, I will allow for the fact that these sentiments exist.

It is not the freedom to reject the pledge of allegiance that bothers me as much as the lack of desire on one�s part to pay one�s respect. I believe that if you are in the country, receiving a public service, then an instinct to show some gratitude in the form of respecting a country�s traditions is the least one could do � citizen, immigrant or transient foreigner alike.

And, as an immigrant in a foreign land myself, I practice what I preach. Or at least I would if the British actually possessed such a thing as a collective patriotic mind to honor. Alas, they do not. Like the snow yesterday, public displays of national pride come few and far between (such as the Queen�s Golden Jubilee, for instance).

Hence, the disparity of thought on the subject that exists in our household.

Incidentally, if anyone is thirsting for more recent political ramblings from me, please go here and also here.

� M.E.M.

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