{"id":9608,"date":"2014-03-01T01:10:29","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T06:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=9928"},"modified":"2014-02-28T22:16:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T03:16:03","slug":"the-neon-pagan-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2014\/03\/01\/the-neon-pagan-march\/","title":{"rendered":"The Neon Pagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI Pledge Allegiance.\u201d Maybe. It Depends.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a public school teacher, I\u2019m pretty used to heavy doses of evaluation by my superiors. Seems like every time I turn around, someone is in the back of my room with a clipboard (more recently, an IPad), weighing me in the balance. My philosophy on teacher evaluations is pretty simple: If I\u2019m doing my job, I pass. If I\u2019m not doing my job, I shouldn\u2019t be there anyway. Invariably, I pass.<\/p>\n

This most recent eval was no different. I passed. But the evaluator had one stern lecture up her sleeve anyway. She had been in my classroom during home room, and one of my students had not stood up for the pledge of allegiance to the flag.<\/p>\n

I got taken to task for this. The evaluator said, \u201cWell, although there\u2019s no legal recourse against someone who won\u2019t stand for the pledge, it\u2019s kind of like being in church at a wedding or something. Even if it\u2019s not your denomination, you stand when everyone else stands, and you kneel when everyone else kneels. That\u2019s just respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call me disrespectful, then.<\/p>\n

Pledging, and standing, and kneeling, and praying, and hymn-singing, should all be matters of conscience. I\u2019ve been to weddings and funerals of all stripes, and I\u2019ve never felt obliged to adhere to the prevailing ritual. At one recent Roman Catholic funeral for a person I held in high regard, I just took a saunter around the church during certain segments of the proceedings. No one has ever chastised me for doing this. I\u2019m discreet about it \u2026 as my student was discreet about not standing for the pledge.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a teacher, so I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the republic for which it stands, five days a week. I say the pledge because I have ancestors who served in the American military, as well as family members who are serving in it now. Whether or not I agree with the prevailing politics of the era, I\u2019m still an American. I\u2019m patriotic enough to want to salute the flag.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I pledge allegiance to the flag is because I don\u2019t have to do it. This is a nation that, on paper at least, respects individual decision-making on matters of conscience. If someone ordered me to pledge the flag, well, that would become a power struggle. Or a fascist dictatorship. Pick your poison.<\/p>\n

As for those folks who view others\u2019 behavior and deem it disrespectful, doesn\u2019t that say more about the person passing judgment than the person engaged in the behavior? \u201cAn thou harm none, do as thou wilt\u201d is a fabulous tenet. Who is harmed when someone won\u2019t stand to pledge the flag?<\/p>\n

The next time you see someone doing something you think is disrespectful, ask yourself this question: Why do I think it\u2019s important for this person to behave differently in this situation? If you can\u2019t come up with something better than, \u201cWell, if everyone else is doing it, then you should do it too,\u201d my advice is to modify your notions of disrespect.<\/p>\n

And for the record, when I pledge the flag, I omit the worlds \u201cunder God.\u201d I\u2019ve been saying the pledge without \u201cunder God\u201d in a public school since 2005, and no one has ever commented upon it. No one. Ever. Hooray for the rugged individual! It\u2019s the American way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anne Johnson is the author of the humor blog \u201cThe Gods Are Bored,\u201d http:\/\/godsrbored.blogspot.com<\/a>, as well as a few other things here and there.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI Pledge Allegiance.\u201d Maybe. It Depends.   As a public school teacher, I\u2019m pretty used to heavy doses of evaluation by my superiors. Seems like every time I turn around, someone is in the back of my room with a clipboard (more recently, an IPad), weighing me in the balance. My philosophy on teacher evaluations is pretty simple: If I\u2019m doing my job, I pass. If I\u2019m not doing my job, I shouldn\u2019t be there anyway. Invariably, I pass. This most recent eval was no different. I passed. But the evaluator had one stern lecture up her sleeve anyway. She had been in my classroom during home room, and one of my students had not stood up for the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I got taken to task for this. The evaluator said, \u201cWell, although there\u2019s no legal recourse against someone who won\u2019t stand for the pledge, it\u2019s kind of like being in church at a wedding or something. Even if it\u2019s not your denomination, you stand when everyone else stands, and you kneel when everyone else kneels. That\u2019s just respectful.\u201d Call me disrespectful, then. Pledging, and standing, and kneeling, and praying, and hymn-singing, should all be matters of conscience. I\u2019ve been to weddings and funerals of all stripes, and I\u2019ve never felt obliged to adhere to the prevailing ritual. At one recent Roman Catholic funeral for a person I held in high regard, I just took a saunter around the church during certain segments of the proceedings. No one has ever chastised me for doing this. I\u2019m discreet about it \u2026 as my student was discreet about not standing for the pledge. I\u2019m a teacher, so I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the republic for which it stands, five days a week. I say the pledge because I have ancestors who served in the American military, as well as family members who are serving in it now. Whether or not I agree with the prevailing politics of the era, I\u2019m still an American. I\u2019m patriotic enough to want to salute the flag. One of the reasons I pledge allegiance to the flag is because I don\u2019t have to do it. This is a nation that, on paper at least, respects individual decision-making on matters of conscience. If someone ordered me to pledge the flag, well, that would become a power struggle. Or a fascist dictatorship. Pick your poison. As for those folks who view others\u2019 behavior and deem it disrespectful, doesn\u2019t that say more about the person passing judgment than the person engaged in the behavior? \u201cAn thou harm none, do as thou wilt\u201d is a fabulous tenet. Who is harmed when someone won\u2019t stand to pledge the flag? The next time you see someone doing something you think is disrespectful, ask yourself this question: Why do I think it\u2019s important for this person to behave differently in this situation? If you can\u2019t come up with something better than, \u201cWell, if everyone else is doing it, then you should do it too,\u201d my advice is to modify your notions of disrespect. And for the record, when I pledge the flag, I omit the worlds \u201cunder God.\u201d I\u2019ve been saying the pledge without \u201cunder God\u201d in a public school since 2005, and no one has ever commented upon it. No one. Ever. Hooray for the rugged individual! It\u2019s the American way.   Anne Johnson is the author of the humor blog \u201cThe Gods Are Bored,\u201d http:\/\/godsrbored.blogspot.com, as well as a few other things here and there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}