A boy and his flag: Why Will won’t pledge.

[Christa]

Will Phillips isn't like other boys his age.

For one thing, he's smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what's playing on Radio Disney.

It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will's mother. “Yes, my son is 10,” she said. “But he's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He's not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what's right, what's wrong, and what's fair.”

Will's family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said, they've been trying to be a straight ally to the gay community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors. They've been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals – the right to marry, and the right to adopt. Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance.

/snip

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down.

/snip

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.

http://www.arktimes.com/articles/articleviewer.aspx?ArticleID=2f5d7a3b-c72a-446b-8d20-3823aa79c021





there is no god and I am his prophet

[Barack_America]

1. Good for him.

Though he probably just blew his chance for POTUS.

:eyes:

[stray cat]

2. Its actually a tribute to the country that he can do that - so thanks for the tribute

We live in a country where you are not killed for not voting or voting for the wrong candidate or not swearing allegiance to your country

[paulsby]

5. i agree

fwiw, when i was a kid, i did not say "under god" during the pledge of allegiance, and i made it clear to my teacher that i thought it was my right.

that was when i attended public school. in private school we didn't recite the pledge.

my teacher was cool with it.

[rd_kent]

3. Wow, what a bright kid!

[immoderate]

4. The pledge always seemed un-American to me.

Kind of feudal.

Also, it seems to expire every day. What's that about? :shrug:

--imm

[Th1onein]

7. "Also, it seems to expire every day."

ROFLMAO

[deaniac21]

6. You can tell he is going to have a great life!

[Orsino]

8. When we have full civil rights...

...I will gladly join in that pledge, cockeyed as its wording is.

Good kid.

[hootinholler]

9. “It's really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.”

You go Will! Thank you for reminding us what we should be about.

-Hoot

[Warren DeMontague]

10. I always mumbled gibberish during the "Under God" part. And this was back when you weren't

allowed to be an Atheist. At least not openly admit it.

I know, I know... for a lot of people (even some here) the days when unbelievers kept our traps good n' shut were "the good old days".