This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Alex Burnett feels that saying the Pledge of Allegiance every day at Bingham High is excessive. In "Whining about Pledge" (Forum, May 16), Jan Phillips told him to stop whining and start showing more support to our veterans.
As a fellow student of Alex, I feel that how frequently someone says the pledge does not prove a person's patriotism or how much he or she supports our troops.
Patriotism is not grounded in the recitation of a pledge but rather in a commitment to our Constitution, a love of this country and an obligation to preserving its liberties. Being forced to pledge allegiance to a government that promises freedom seems a bit ironic.
Many people don't even know where the pledge originated; some assume it came from our Founding Fathers. It was written by a socialist minister, Francis Bellamy. He did not write the pledge to show his patriotism; he wrote it to reinforce the revolutionary idea that America was not a confederation of states, but one nation.
Half the students who recite the pledge on a daily basis barely understand what they are saying. If anything, saying the pledge daily only trivializes it.
Haley Jensen
South Jordan