I Say the Pledge of Allegiance- Do You?

I don't understand it. First, I do have an outside job just you'll know what I'm talking about. I think I was the only person at work today who actually stopped to observe a moment of silence in honor the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the brave souls who fought back in Pennsylvania. We have an enormous United States flag hung from the ceiling and I stop everyday to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Finally they have stopped looking at me like I'm a curiosity and smile instead. I wonder if they think I'm nuts or agree, but just aren't stopping to do the same. I remember all too well what happened that day; what I did, and the conversations I had with my neighbors and family and friends. I know many of us do too.

My son came out to our barn as I was wrapping up the last of the morning chores and told me a plane had crashed into one of the building of the World Trade Center. I remember saying, "Uh oh! Somebody's going get it!" I was thinking about the small plane that had hit the Empire State Building many, many years ago. Then he said, "No, I think it was bigger than that." I came into the house and we sat in front of the television watching the Today Show on NBC as they reported that they believed a jetliner had crashed into the building. We were chatting about how someone could get off course that badly and not go back on course before they hit a building. Then we both saw a split second (as did many others) before it hit, the shadow of the approaching second plane. We jumped and grabbed onto each other. "We're at war," I said quietly. "I know," he replied, "But who with?" He was twelve. Up until that point we had not heard of Al Qaeda or their terrorist organization. We watched the news, we just hadn't paid that much attention to them. We learned quick, but still didn't know the half of it. We did cry over the news of the Pentagon and the plane going down over the field in Pennsylvania and for the people who literally sacrificed themselves to save others from being killed by the hijackers. We also prayed- a lot.

My son is now serving his country in the United States Navy. He was inspired to join by those events, and following in his late grandfather's footsteps (he served in World War II) he ended up at sea. I pray he and his shipmates and the troops they carry we be safe and come home, whole, in mind and body.

I say the Pledge of Allegiance, just as it was when I was allowed to say "God" in school. Do you say the pledge?

God bless America!