The pledge of allegiance is not exactly a oath. It is our recognition of being citizens of our country. Soldiers don't expect to be heros or thanked for their part in defending freedom. Most prefer respect. Although, every soldier expects to walk away with something different. They all have their own, individual reasons for joining the armed forces. The point was, the soldier gave his ability to stand so that others may refuse to stand. This would be something for Kevin to contemplate. Wether he honors the soldier by standing or sitting, he still honors the soldier. This was a major factor during the Vietnam War. The soldiers late in the war were recieved very poorly. It didn't matter whether or not they had even gone to Vietnam. My father experienced this being in the military, after the Vietnam War.

The pledge of allegiance has become erroneous, since the government decreed that the individual does not have to recite it.

It would also be helpful to remember that not everyone on the Site is a U.S. citizen or necessarily agrees with the sentiments expressed.

Precisely why, we have a policy of clearly avoiding the 'political' threads here.

It's a VERY diverse Site, please bear this in mind with Threads like this...

I won't be jumping anybody for their skewed beliefs.

I won't be jumping anybody for their skewed beliefs. This is purely a patriotic thread. I am simply introducing non-US citizens to how our patriotism is expressed..

Any man can be labelled a patriot, so long as his views are based on his view of civil liberties.

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I won't be jumping anybody for their skewed beliefs.

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What do you call a skewed belief ?

I use the word "skewed" loosely. Any person who is a citizen of another country would have "skewed" beliefs, to me. "Skewed" being used in place of "different". No offense intended.

The point of this whole thread is patriotism. I think it has been successful, so far. At least it has people thinking.

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The point of this whole thread is patriotism. I think it has been successful, so far. At least it has people thinking.

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That's the problem with patriotism, it depends entirely on perspective. Benedict Arnold, G.Gordon Liddy, Adolph Hitler and Osama Bin Laden have all in their time been called patriots. Yet their actions, which is the important measure of a man as noted by Pat, may lead others to draw a different perspective.

Where one might see a patriot another might see a terrorist.

Where one sees a patriotic message another might see jingoistic rubbish.

Where one might see a classroom scene where a person is being encouraged to act in a patriotic manner by someone to whom such things are important enough to make large self sacrifices another might see a child being bullied into doing something they don't want to do by a disabled person being used for emotional blackmail.

But it is interesting to see how SOME US citizens express their patriotism, I certainly hope that those who express it in other ways are not subject to the same public ridicule that poor young Kev is.