Francis Bellamy

Each day life gets more confusing for me.  And I’ll bet it’s not just me who is at sea.

In kindergarten, the hardest thing I had to remember after my name and address and phone number was the Pledge of Allegiance.

My previous four years were mostly concentrated on where certain toys were and when Roy Rogers was going to be on television.  Suddenly, I was thrown into a world of order that was totally foreign to me. 

Along with a morning prayer for all people, including the Pope and President, and our families, we recited the Pledge with our hands over our hearts, just as most every child in America.

We faced the hanging flag during the Pledge, and then turned to face the crucifix for the prayer.  It was pretty simple, actually.

None of my scholastic equals really knew what we were saying, as four of us were likely peeing in our pants during this exercise.

Not the Nike logo, alas

In any case, as we grew and co-mingled throughout elementary school, we eventually realized what those words meant.

By way of history, the Pledge of Allegiance was penned by a man named Francis Bellamy in 1892.  That special writing consisted of 29-words; it was modified to 31-words in the 1950’s with the Congressional addition of two more, “under God.”

And all was well.

All was well until an atheist named Madalyn Murray O’Hair, known as The Most Hated Woman in America, fought for the right of her stupid son to be free of saying a morning prayer in school, that is. 

Activist O’Hair received the attention she desired and, through the court system, got schools to cease forcing kids to recite prayers.  The logic there is the separation of church and state.  Of course, they got it wrong.

In any case, the toothpaste was now out of the tube, and liberals were agog with ways to break our nations back of sense and order by invoking subtle mayhem to brains of elementary school mush.

Since the door was now open, those offensive words “under God,” became the new target of America haters and general rabble-rousers.

Although it took a few years, the court system decided – with the benefit of commie malcontents – to attack the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sensitive minds were being infiltrated with a sense of pride and hope through freedom and civility.  We were a nation from many turned into one.

It’s hard to believe that after all those years of pledging allegiance to the country in which I am living is now considered something bad.

Who says so?

At least a few newly elected Congressfolk – one of whom was born in the toilet named Somalia – has become pretty testy.  She was brought here as a child and wound up in Minnesota, from whence, after a brief political career there, she was elected to the United States Congress.

Because she clearly hates America, white men, and its close ally Israel, she has been spouting hate toward both nations, with impunity.

However, she is in good company.

A handful of years ago, a central New Jersey family brought a lawsuit on a New Jersey school district to remove the hateful words, “under God,”  from the Pledge.

Clemson University’s Student Government members refused to stand for the Pledge during a meeting, because of its racist and hurtful meaning.

The Santa Barbara City College Board eliminated the divisive Pledge of Allegiance before meetings.

And Minnesota’s St. Louis Park City Council felt it necessary to quit saying the Pledge, out of concern of inclusiveness.  Sure.  In all fairness, after a near-riot, this brain trust decided it prudent to re-instate the Pledge.

In kindergarten, I also learned a cute saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Welcome to the Sensitive States of America.