IN PENNSYLVANIA last week, the State Senate unanimously passed a bill that requires students in private and public schools to sing the national anthem or recite the pledge of allegiance. Only students with personal convictions, such as religious beliefs, that prohibit them from pledging to anything that is not a deity, will be excused from this requirement. According to CNN.com, the bill also mandates that American flags be displayed in every classroom, and it was introduced after Republican Allan Egolf discovered that many schools did not request that their students recite the pledge.
The one flaw in the bill is that the students who do not recite the pledge will have their parents notified. The American Civil Liberties Union points out that this will discourage some students from following their personal convictions. Although such claims have validity, it should also be pointed out that those with religious and personal convictions should have the assuredness to stand behind them. Thus, while there are some problems with this bill, such as allowing students to more freely exercise their right to express themselves, the proposal is ultimately a good idea. It's great that Pennsylvania is taking this initiative to encourage American ideals in our schools, and they will hopefully enforce the importance of being patriotic consistently and meaningfully.
Immediately after the terrorist attackslast year, there was a lot of "patriotism" that was demonstrated by many of our citizens. Many people objectified patriotism with an overuse of America's symbols. Such individuals used the flag as a way to impress others with their American pride, and patriotism became a sick game to see who could out-do the other in flaunting this pride.
Now, a little over a year since the terrorist attacks and with many soldiers still abroad in the Middle East, there is no longer this feverish sense of patriotism. Although Americans do get notified when a Taliban member dies or gets arrested, there is no longer constant news coverage of what's happening to our soldiers in al Qaeda territory, even though their lives are being put in jeopardy every day. People have essentially gone back to their lives as if nothing happened last year, and many are ignorant of the fact that we still are engaged in combat overseas.
Essentially, this implies two things about the mindset of the majority of the American population. First, many Americans have seemed to use American pride as a crutch when they feel they are in danger. Right after the terrorist attacks, many citizens clung to American ideals and shouted the rhetoric as a way to find strength in numbers. Then, when it seems like everything is safe again, they went back to business as usual. These people only deem it necessary to act patriotic when the country is in crisis, and not during times of uneasy peace. These people seem to only look out for themselves and their own feelings of security, and they ignore the fact that the United States needs public support even when they are not at war. Second, these people seem to act on a very individualistic basis; the flag is not used as symbol for many people to unite under, but instead designates the person waving it as being more enthused and patriotic than his neighbor. In short, American pride has become a commodity, and the individual's ego has taken precedence over the nation. The ideals of America have been subverted to a very selfish rhetoric -- of people who cling to America like a security blanket, but at the same time use America as a tool to pay tribute to themselves.
It is because of this warped rhetoric that the Pennsylvania bill is so necessary. It is an extremely good idea to emphasize the importance of the pledge, because unlike the flag, the pledge is much harder to subvert into a meaningless symbol. The flag is comprised of red and white stripes, a blue patch, and 50 stars. As it stands alone, it is meaningless, and it is the principles behind the flag which makes it so important. On the other hand, the pledge and the national anthem speak for themselves. The words that comprise both of them are clear and concise in their meaning, and they provide a more clear-cut message of what this nation stands for as opposed to a waving flag. Furthermore, since most people look at the flag while reciting either of these, the meaning of the words will hopefully be transferred to the flag, and this will help restore some of the importance of our now deflated American symbol.
However, this is not to say that our pledge and anthem have also not been deflated, and the Pennsylvania bill will also hopefully encourage schools to more closely scrutinize the words to both of them. By now, many Americans can recite both the pledge and the national anthem by heart. However, the delivery of these words has gotten so mechanical by this point, and many people recite them without even thinking about what they're saying. The reason why our national pride is so bankrupt is because while the rhetoric and slogans are still there, the meaning behind them has been gutted out. The meaning behind our flag, our anthem and our pledge is mostly gone, and the Pennsylvania bill is a good step toward repairing this. Hopefully, America can have a future where its citizens are proud of her at all times instead of just when they feel scared or obligated to do so.
(Kevin James Wong's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at kwong@cavalierdaily.com.)
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