“Damn it.”
My co-worker was angry. I adore her and wanted to help.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I just got an email from our assistant principal and she says I can’t write a referral on a student who won’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.”
“Oh.”
“Isn’t that ridiculous? Every student should stand up and we can’t do anything about the kid that just sits there showing disrespect to the flag, our soldiers and everyone else. Can you believe that?”
Ever have one of those moments when you and a friend first disagree? I took a deep breath.
“I never make my students stand up. I encourage them to do so, but if they don’t, well, that’s okay, too.”
She just stared at me.
“You’re kidding, right?” she asked.
“Nope,” I said, smiling meekly.
“Katie!” she said, half-laughing. “They should stand up. It’s a sign of respect!”
“I agree,” I said. “But forcing students to stand seems to go against what our flag stands for in the first place. I don’t think we should make it compulsory. We’re going to give kids detention for this?”
“Our forefathers fought for and soldiers today are dying for our freedom…”
“Right,” I said. “The freedom not to stand.”
“Okay,” she said, trying a different approach. “Standing up, at the very least, is a way to show that you love your country and honor and respect what the flag stands for.”
“In a way, I agree. And I ask the kids to get up. However, there are other ways to show patriotism, maybe more effective ways even, than standing up for less than a minute. Especially if they don’t want to. How is forcing them to stand encouraging love of country? I’m afraid it might even have the opposite effect. What makes this country great is that we allow for dissent. We don’t force people to go along with the majority in cases like this. It makes us stronger than other forms of government. Let the kid be an ass. He’ll get over it one day and be thankful he lives in a society that allows him to be himself.”
My awesome co-worker jokingly told me to f*ck off.
“You still love me though,” I said.
“No!” she laughed. “No I don’t!”
“I have your number programmed into my cell phone and your email address at home. You’re stuck with me.”
She just smiled and shook her head.
“How about this? I’ll post our conversation on-line and let you see all the hate email I receive over this issue. Will that make you feel better?”
“Little bit,” she said.
I blew kisses and went back to class.
Done.
***cross-posted at Out in Left Field***
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Something I’ve been wondering ever since the Saints became media darlings, are the Cowboys still America’s team? Did the Saints take their place as America’s favorites? Or can America be a two-timing whore like Canada and have two favorites?
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