Today is Constitution Day, so all the children at my son's elementary school (and probably every other school across America) trouped outside to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. After school, my son said, "It was a bit strange. It was like we were praying to a flag".
In the US, the American flag commands a level of respect reserved elsewhere for relics, national treasures or other irreplaceable artefacts. This is hardly surprising. According to the US Government Printing Office, the Stars & Stripes is considered "a living thing". It even has its own Code stipulating what can and cannot be done to it, ranging from the obvious to the odd, and including:
- The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing;
- The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water or merchandise;
- The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling;
- The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything;
- It should not be printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use; and
- It should be illuminated if displayed at night.
Once this living thing is deemed too tattered to represent the United States, it has to be destroyed in a dignified manner – preferably by burning, a complex and solemn ceremony typically conducted by veterans, boy scouts or guides and involving a recital and then first cutting off the blue field (the bit with the stars on), getting someone to hold it, then cutting off and individually burning the red and white stripes followed by the blue field.
In the US, the American flag commands a level of respect reserved elsewhere for relics, national treasures or other irreplaceable artefacts. This is hardly surprising. According to the US Government Printing Office, the Stars & Stripes is considered "a living thing". It even has its own Code stipulating what can and cannot be done to it, ranging from the obvious to the odd, and including:
- The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing;
- The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water or merchandise;
- The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling;
- The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything;
- It should not be printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use; and
- It should be illuminated if displayed at night.
Once this living thing is deemed too tattered to represent the United States, it has to be destroyed in a dignified manner – preferably by burning, a complex and solemn ceremony typically conducted by veterans, boy scouts or guides and involving a recital and then first cutting off the blue field (the bit with the stars on), getting someone to hold it, then cutting off and individually burning the red and white stripes followed by the blue field.
As today's homework, my son was asked to practice the Pledge of Allegiance (hand on heart, bien sur). Although we have a whole year before the next Constitution Day, I feel it's all a bit much patriotism - not to mention for the wrong nation - for a Franco-Anglo-German kindergartener to understand. Think we'll pass on that one.
1 comment:
Your kid's getting off easy - when I was in elementary school, we had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every freakin' day!
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