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Red
Skelton's
Commentary on the United
States Pledge of Allegiance
As a schoolboy in Vincennes, Indiana, one of Red Skelton's teachers explained the words and meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance to his class. Skelton later wrote down, and eventually recorded, his recollection of this lecture. It is followed by an observation of his own. |
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I
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Me;
an individual; a committee of one.
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Pledge
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Dedicate
all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.
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Allegiance
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My
love and my devotion.
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To
the Flag
of
the
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Our
standard; Old Glory ; a symbol of courage; and wherever she waves
there is respect, because your loyalty has given her a dignity that
shouts, "Freedom is everybody's job."
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United
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That
means that we have all come together.
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States
of
America.
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Individual
communities that have united into forty-eight great states. Forty-eight
individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided
by imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common cause, and that is
love of country...of America.
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And
to the Republic
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Republic--a
sovereign state in which power is invested in representatives chosen
by the people to govern. And government is the people; and it's from
the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.
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For
which it stands
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One
Nation
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meaning,
so blessed by God.
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Under
God
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[not
in the original pledge - added in 1954]
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Indivisible
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Incapable
of being divided.
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With
Liberty
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Which
is Freedom; the right of power for one to live his own life, without
fears, threats, or any sort of retaliation.
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And
Justice
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The
principle, and qualities, of dealing fairly with others.
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For
All
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--that
means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine. I
Me; an individual; a committee of one. |