I have a song, sung by Lee Greenwood, that nearly makes me cry. After a long, hard day of work, I might put it on, and it opens so wonderfully with a class of schoolchildren reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. And then Lee starts to sing it.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands,
One nation, under God, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all…
I get this insane urge to stand up in my little cubicle, right then and there, lay my right hand on my heart and recite it myself. I pledge allegiance…
Hardly was there ever any more powerful pledge. It rings with freedom and liberty through the centuries; it quivers with the passion of free men standing up for their truth, their rights, their freedoms; it echoes with the cries of American soldiers shedding their blood for freedom’s sake on the beaches of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal…
Passion for the flag. Passion for the ideals of the nation that was forged in the fires of heated conflict and the struggle of a million souls for their liberty… Freedom so big and powerful you could reach out your hand and touch it.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
(Poem on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty)
I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America…