As an editor, I can understand the rationale that led to a decision to cut some of the words out of a rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance at the U.S. National golf tournament. NBC, the network broadcasting the tournament, had a nice idea, adding the pledge to the golf tournament’s opening ceremony. Someone spent a great deal of time finding a group of sweet-voiced children to read the pledge and to put together a lovely montage of American scenes with patriotic music playing between phrases. I’m sure somewhere along the line, it was realized that the pretty pledge in its entirety wouldn’t fit the time allotted. Something had to go.
As an editor, I can imagine the discussion amongst the creative staff. “We don’t want to cut the cute little girl playing with the puppy….” “We have to have the flyover by the jets….” “The brave firefighter with the flames behind him is too dramatic to cut….” “It would be un-American to eliminate the purple mountains majesty and amber waves of grain…."
So someone on the team came out with the idea to shorten the presentation by snipping a few words from the pledge. The problem is those words are quite important. Some would say they are the core of the statement. In fact, they have been the subject of historic conflict and debate. The NBC team decided to leave “Under God” and “Indivisible” on the cutting room floor.
I’m pretty sure the video wasn’t vetted by very many people. I don’t believe it was a deliberate dismembering of the pledge by an entire corporation. I think it was a fairly innocent artistic decision to cut those words. I find it hard to believe that an organization that wanted to bring the Pledge of Allegiance to the public would purposely choose to cut those crucial phrases, knowing the conflict it would cause.
I think it was an honest mistake. I hope it was. Because even if you don’t feel as strongly about the pledge as some Americans, it is simply respectful to honor a symbol because it is important to others. We’re a better nation if we treat one another—and the things important to one another—reverently.
My faith in America’s patriotism, at least in rural America, has been vindicated several times in recent weeks. The first incident was at the Lutsen 99er bicycle race. Before the 100 or so bicyclists took off on their mountain bike adventure, the young guy handling the electronics stopped the blaring rock music to play a nice, traditional version of the National Anthem. And throughout the song, the bicyclists stood quietly by their bicycles. And the electronics guy? He not only took off the baseball cap he had been wearing backwards, he respectfully held it over his heart while the Star- Spangled Banner played.
Later that same day, at the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Annual Meeting at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts, the meeting started with another traditional version of the National Anthem, with beautiful videos of everyday America playing on a theater-sized screen. Before the anthem began, attendees were talking and joking, calling out hello to friends and neighbors across the auditorium. But when the music began, one by one, people stood. And then, quietly at first, people started singing. By the end of the music—“O’er the land of the free…And the home of the brave” rang out loud and strong.
And finally, as West End 4th of July celebration preparations got underway, Tofte Supervisor Jim King recalled that last year, for the first year in more than a decade, the American Legion Post 413 Honor Guard was not available to carry the flag at the front of the parade through Tofte Park. Supervisor King suggested getting some school children from Birch Grove Community School to bear the flag at the head of the parade. A nice idea and a civics lesson rolled into one.
So, I’m not too worried about what NBC does. Here in heart of America, in rural Minnesota, next to the Greatest ofThe the Great Lakes, we respect one another and the flag that flies for us—at races, at election places, over public buildings, from private flagpoles and in parades. Long may it wave.
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