Are we better today then before 1954? I wish I had the resources and researchers to do the numbers and find out if we were.
“I was having dinner with my 82-year old mom last night and we got to talking politics. Tis the season, after all. I don’t remember exactly how this came up, but I think it was in the context of the Republican apoplexy over Democrats dropping reference to God in their party platform and Romney pledging to keep the word God on our coins (’cause I guess that’s a key element of his Jobs Program, or something). My mom said she remembered that as a young girl, the Pledge of Allegiance they recited everyday in school was simply, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” No mention of God anywhere.
My mom my be old, but she’s not senile, so I assumed her memory was accurate. Still I decided to Fact Check this morning (it’s all the rage these days). A simple search of the tubes confirmed that the words “under God” weren’t added to the Pledge until June, 1954 by a Joint Resolution of Congress.
But just as interesting, if not more so, was the Pledge of Allegiance was originally written back in 1892 by an avowed Christian Socialist who thought Capitalism was “idolatrous and rooted in greed”. That’s right, our nation’s Pledge was written by a stinkin’ Socialist. How’s that for insidious? I don’t suppose too many of our Republican friends know this, or I think we’d be seeing a mass epidemic of spontaneous cranial implosions on the streets by now.
Do you think we should tell them and enjoy the ensuing meltdown, or just smile with smug satisfaction every time we see a Republican reciting the Pledge?”
My Mom, someone I consider very religious says, I got along very well before 1954. So that says to me or makes me think, is this our problem?
Did we hate as we do today? Did we take life for granted as we do today? Do many of us live at a pace that tramples and gives no consideration to those around us? Are we accountable for our contribution to the emotional wake we leave? Did we have easy access to machines that can kill hundreds of people or children just going about their day? Did we individually think that our way was the only way, my way or the highway?
I said it in my last post and will repeat it.
I don’t believe that we need God in the schools for us to be the good descent caring human beings. We are stronger and better than that. Be accountable at home; take care of your own house. We have to be responsible for our families and ourselves in terms of goodness, spirituality and religion. That responsibility lies nowhere else.