I Pledge Allegiance

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.

When you look at the flag and recite the pledge, what do you feel? I feel pride, honor, duty, respect, and thankfulness. This flag is the symbol of our country, everything that we as people are, and want to be should be felt when we see this flag, and recite this pledge. Yet it seems to me that every year it's becoming less important, and isn't honored as it should be.

The Pledge of Allegiance is a spoken oath of loyalty to our country. We are saying we will do all we can to help improve and maintain this great land. It should mean something when we say it. It's an oath. You are giving your word to help protect and uphold the principles of this land. If you can't trust a man's word, what does he have left? This isn't an oath to the President, it's not an oath to Congress, it's not an oath to any single party. It's an oath to our country, to all the liberties, and freedoms that we have. Why are people trying to destroy this? We should be upholding the principles that our founding fathers set down. We should be teaching our children what it means to Pledge Allegiance, not just to recite some words at the beginning of the day. We should be proud to have it in our schools, and in our daily lives.

This is one nation under god. We don't have to agree on every little thing. But we should agree on doing everything that we must for the good of all. In accordance with that we, and especially public officials, should be doing our duties as if God really were standing over us, watching what we're doing. It's sad to see public officials in the news for committing horrid crimes, or some kind of scandal. It's just not right. They were put in office to help their fellow man, and they just aren't doing that. If they were acting as if God were watching over them, they would be busting their buts to do everything they can as best as they possibly can. Why wouldn't we want God watching over us? If he isn't who would? Man? Man is fallible, God is not. I would much rather have a perfect being watching over me correcting me, then some imperfect man.

Liberty and Justice for All. We should be fair and just in our dealings with everyone. We shouldn't infringe on the rights of others, that don't infringe on the rights of us. I believe this also means that we must protect the safety and life of those around us. We aren't taking someones liberty away by putting them in jail. They chose to give up their liberty by committing a crime. They did it to themselves, it's a consequence of their actions, we have an obligation to protect the liberties of those innocent people that were wronged. We need to have a fair and unbiased system to implement those consequences, but once it's decided upon, that should be the end of that. If they didn't want to be locked away they shouldn't have infringed on the rights of the innocent.

I for one am proud to be an American. I don't agree with everything that goes on, but that doesn't mean that this country is crap. It means that I, and my fellow Americans need to uphold that oath of loyalty that we swore, and constantly strive to make this country a better place for all.