Freedoms

Over the past month or so, a seemingly minor story has been gaining steam and quite a lot of controversy. Little Will Phillips refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because he believes that our flag does not represent "liberty and justice for all" because of our nation’s continued hostility towards homosexuals and the unequal treatment they face from pretty much everyone, from the hospital administrators who will not recognize the right of a person to see his or her partner to the federal government itself. I admit that I’m no expert on this story. It’s just something that caught my attention. Apparently Will asked his parents if he was allowed to remain sitting during the Pledge, which of course he is. When he chose not to stand, the substitute teacher in his class repeatedly asked him to get up, becoming quite heated over the whole thing. One article reports that when she began raising her voice, he raised his right back and said "With all due respect, ma’am, go jump off a bridge." She sent him to the principal who called his parents who support his decision 100%. Ballsy for a 10-year-old, isn’t he?

I can’t disagree with either his motives in protesting the Pledge, nor his right to do so. And before anyone bothers, he DOES have the right.  Anyone can refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance for religious or personal reasons. What amazes me is the responses I’ve seen in the comments sections of these articles. People are calling this little boy a traitor, saying his parents ought to be arrested. Seriously?

What I find most disheartening are the comments that evoke the military in some way. Some people say that although it’s his right not to stand, he still should out of respect for the men and women who have died protecting his freedom to do so.  Some of these posts are from members (or former members) of the military itself. They are often the angriest, which would be almost comical if it weren’t such a terrible reflection on those service men and women who are still capable of rational thought. The bile directed at this boy from soldiers in the US Armed Services is so violent. They go on and on about how they’ve fought to defend our freedom and protect our liberties and this is the thanks they get. What bitterness and gall! And over what? A boy exercising the very freedoms they claim to have afforded him.

But what freedoms have they really afforded us? What rights do they defend? Who do they protect?

It’s not you and me, not really. I respect the hell out of the job that soldiers do. It’s hard and dangerous and they don’t get a lot of credit for the impact they have on the world. But my point is that it’s mostly the world that they’re having an impact on. I don’t delude myself into believing that our freedom as a people is in any kind of real danger, nor has it been in any real danger for quite some time now. The wars in which we have involved ourselves in the years since the Civil War have largely been for other peoples’ freedoms or for our own political and monetary gain.

Who gains by a soldier’s deployment?  Where does he go? And why? What is he protecting me from halfway around the world in a region that has been torn apart by factions and civil war since time began? The terrorists? Am I supposed to believe that those people are a threat to this country’s safety? If that’s the tripe I’m supposed to swallowing, the government’s propagandists must think I’m an idiot. Luckily for me, I’m not.

I’m not trying to rant and rail against the military. My husband is in the Army for crying out loud. I’m just ranting and railing against the propaganda. I appreciate that a volunteer army prevents resorting to conscription, but I also appreciate the fact that a lot of people wouldn’t volunteer if they really had any other options or if the government were bending over backwards to sell the idea of being a soldier. There are a lot of benefits to it, but I refuse to accept that my husband will be defending my freedom. Maybe his presence and that of his comrades in arms will help a volatile area find a way to live if not peacefully, at least civilly. Maybe it won’t.

And maybe that makes me a terrible Army Wife. I’m sure plenty of our time in the Army will be spent with me smiling politely and biting my tongue. And when Alan graduates from Basic, I’ll stand up for the National Anthem. I may even cry a little. Hey, I’m not a complete cynic. That patriotic stuff really hits home for me too, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look it in the eye and call it by it’s right name. Not freedom, but propaganda.

~Liz