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Wednesday, October 08, 2003
That's the way the kids are in Texas
More on the Texas Pledge from reader Margaret:
Sorry to be so long in commenting on your post about the Texas state law mandating the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance. For some reason I can't send you an e-mail on my home computer, so I've had to use the one at work (school) -- which is not really all that cool to do, especially in light of what I intend to say about this silly law.
First of all, we are not just mandated to say the pledge to the United States flag, but the pledge to the state flag, too. (Did you know there is a Texas state pledge?) The Texas state pledge goes as follows:
"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."
The proper stance during the saying of the Texas Pledge is to stand with the right arm outstretched in front of you, palm up -- think of a cross between the Nazi salute and begging for alms.
The pledge itself is gratingly ungrammatical and factually inaccurate. It begins with a command (to whom, I'm not sure) to honor the flag, then switches to a first-person pledge of loyalty. It includes an assertion that Texas is indivisible, when in fact the state of Texas has the unusual right, if her voters so wish, to break up into as many as five distinct states. (Look for this ploy to be attempted if the Republicans decide they really need eight more U.S. senators.)
Several years ago I applied for a teaching job in Colorado, and the interview was at the same time some secessionist nut-cases in west Texas had kidnapped some neighbors, as I recall partly to gain publicity for the "Texian" cause. In the course of my interview I mentioned that many schools in Texas began the day with the U.S Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge. I thought the interviewers were going to come unglued. I think they thought there really must be a substantial number of Texans itching for secession if we regularly said a state pledge. And who knows, perhaps there are. At any rate, I didn't get the job, so here I still am in Texas, U.S. Pledge, Texas Pledge, and Moment of Silence mandated daily.
P.S. My sophomore high school son and his friends hum The Marseillaise during their mandated pledge time. So far, they haven't been disciplined for disrespect, but I sometimes wonder if their names mightn't go on a list somewhere...nah...
I think the thing that gets me (other than the fact that Margaret is stuck in Texas... why doesn't Sally Struthers start up a charity to help people like her?) is the idea of holding your hand out, palm up. How...weird.
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