Watching TV a while ago and a song started playing, "America." Beautiful song, very melodic, and it got me to thinking and wondering and remembering how many times I had heard that in my almost eighty years, but, more importantly, the varying degrees of pride I have felt, over the years. It seems like the older I have gotten, the less meaning it has.
I remember the feeling I had every morning, at Emerson School, when the class would face the flag, put our hands over our hears, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And in the forties, during the war, a tremendous amount of pride, the "Pledge" took on a whole new meaning. I think that feeling lingered on for a few years. I was in the Navy from '52 to '56, Korea was almost over, but in '56, many of the "old timers" were getting out of the Navy, times and traditions were changing. Something was happening, a new generation was taking over. Sailors were being issued zipper fly's instead of the traditional 13 buttons. A minor thing, but an end to a tradition and the birth of a new generation.
Viet Nam was a whole new experience and a massive change in the feelings in our country. Flags were being burned and dragged in the mud, a new generation was questioning America, and what it stood for. I remember some meetings I attended during the latter part of the century, and when we recited the "Pledge," they were all a monotone, just words, no feelings. That patriotic feeling was eroding away.
The last time my patriotism was elevated to a point of tears occurred a few years ago, the Ohio State-Navy game in Columbus, emotion was high, throughout the entire stadium, patriotism, proud to be an American, I wonder when we will no longer be able to sing the National Anthem before a game. At the rate we are losing our freedoms, it won't be long. Perhaps if we all learn "the Pledge" in Spanish, or, maybe we should learn it in Chinese, or ?
