The Pledge on the day after

At Jenks, we say the Pledge of Allegiance every day at the start of school. (Kids can opt out.) Not usually a big deal to me — I don’t think reciting the pledge makes one patriotic, nor does not reciting it make one NOT patriotic. It’s more or less rote, which is sad, because we never explore the words in it. Today of all days I expected it to be a tough slog.

But you know what? Surprisingly, it wasn’t.

I don’t really pledge allegiance to a flag, because that’s silly. But I do pledge allegiance to the ideas behind the flag, to the Republic for which it stands — this confused, conflicted, amazingly frustrating kludge of a nation, that is so much lesser than it claims to be but which wants, desperately, to be so much more than it is. A majority of my compatriots have just made an error which I cannot comprehend, and I grieve for what that means for my country. But it remains my country. They can’t take that away from me and I won’t surrender it.

People say, “This is not who we are”. The “we” is doing an awfully lot of lifting right there. Who’s the “we”? Millions chose this, but millions didn’t — not enough, perhaps, but not nothing. But if the “we” is “the people of the Unites States in toto”, then… well, I’ve got bad news for you. This is precisely who we are, who we have been for the entirety of our history. This is a country founded on high ideals and base actions — lofty rhetoric written by enslavers. It is a country that has sung the immigrant while simultaneously punching him in the face. It is a country that preaches the dignity of property, while building on stolen land. America has given so much to so many, but it has taken so much from so many, and a nasty nativist strain has been woven throughout our national fabric since the inception.

This IS who we are. But it isn’t who we have to be. It isn’t who we should strive to be. It isn’t who we have to accept being. I recognize the base actions, but I cling to the high ideals — to the America of the mind, a shining nobility we have never achieved but never stopped reaching for. It’s honored more in the breach and it’s a little hokey and a little naïve, but I still believe in the land of the free, with liberty and justice for all. We’ve never been that place but we still could be. It’s just going to take some work, some sacrifice, and some tears… just like it always has.

Take some time to grieve. Take some time to reflect. And then stand up, dust yourself off, and begin the work again. No one is coming to save us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be saved. We’re just going to have to do it ourselves.