I attended my sons graduation ceremony last night (from 8th grade - I’m not THAT old!). It was a proud moment for everyone. Today, his class is going to Great America to celebrate their last day of Middle School.
It was SO hot in that gymnasium. I swear it was well over 100 degrees in there. What? No air conditioning in public schools? I’m sure, somehow, that is Bush’s fault. My Mom, Dad, my daughter and myself all sat together - fanning ourselves. It’s worth noting that his father was a no-show. He didn’t even call. Bastard.
The principal talked in the beginning about how the school was built in 1941 - 1942, in the midst of WWII. He talked about D-Day rememberences and asked the audience to give a round of applause to any vets attending that evening. The applause was resounding and long.
They opened the ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance. The principal asked everyone to please keep former President Reagan and his family in their thoughts as they face the American Flag and recite the pledge. Then we recited the Pledge - - complete with the line ‘One Nation, Under God’ - and as an atheist, I can tell you I was not offended nor did the building fall down upon us.
All of that in a public school - do you believe it? The ACLU would’ve had a fit and I’m sure any liberals in the crowd were not impressed.
Unfortunately, the entire ceremony was overshadowed by the horrendous heat. We were baking in that room and everyone, while very proud of their kid, was focused on getting back outside where we could actualy breathe!
It was a nice ceremony - and in the end, I’m prouder than heck of that kid. He’s pretty proud of himself, too - though he’ll never say it.
The scan turned out badly - - the lighting in that gymnasium was pretty bad…but you get the general idea.
I...
10:00 pm on June 9th, 2004
I know you are proud.Tell him congratulations!!!Dare a pat on the back is about as far as it should go for he is GROWN…hehehe:razz:
10:22 pm on June 9th, 2004
Congrats to him… Yes, both my Middle School and High School graduations were awful and hot as they were in gymnasiums in June… Very, very hot and muggy.
5:44 am on June 10th, 2004
Getting off topic here, but I was wondering why you don’t have a problem with the “under god” bit - and how you cope with the fact that many (most?) people with similar political views to yours also have fairly extreme religious views (that they gererally want to become part of their politics?)
9:18 am on June 10th, 2004
Tim - I have my religous (or nonreligous as it were) beliefs, and they have theirs. I don’t view the ‘under god’ thing as an imposition of their religon on me - - but rather, I see it as tradition. I’m a big one for traditions.
I don’t have to ‘cope’ with others religous beliefs anymore than they have to cope with mine. It just is - everyone is different.
I wouldn’t want the Pledge changed anymore than I would want to change fireworks on the Fourth of July. It’s a traditional thing for me, not a religous thing, obviously.
12:43 pm on June 10th, 2004
Yeah … but … what about the “religious right” who want their mythical god’s rules (the ones they agree with anyway) implimented into law? Banning all abortions, enforcing worship in schools etc. etc. - surely this must bother you?
1:16 pm on June 10th, 2004
I support a womans right to choose - so the thought of banning all abortions bothers me, yea. I certainly don’t support it. Banning partial birth abortions is something I do support, however.
Worship in schools? Where did you read that they want to put that into law anywhere? Worship in private schools - fine. Public schools? Haven’t heard anything about it - - doubt it would ever happen.
I don’t think that the Pledge is something I would consider ‘worship’ in schools. It’s something, at least to me, that is symbolic of the tradition of this country and respect to the flag. If an atheist so chooses, they can omit the ‘under god’ part if it doesn’t align with their belief system. Noone is forcing anyone to say anything.
I’m not part of the extreme right. Obviously not aligned with the ‘religous right’. I consider myself a moderate conservative because my political beliefs align mostly with the conservative party - and it has nothing to do with religon.
4:45 pm on April 29th, 2006
I generally agree with you, Lisa, although you’d probably have to classify me as one of those “religious-rightists”. As to abortion, I agree with President Reagan who specified the exceptions as being rape, incest and danger to a mother… just as long as its still deliberative on a case by case basis. The child isn’t to blame.
Also: I grew up unchurched in an areligious family, but in an era where a daily prayer was said at the beginning of the day right after the Pledge. No matter what your convictions, I think that a few moments of personal introspection can’t help but be a good thing for a rambunctious schoolkid.