I --- Me; an individual; a committee of one.PLEDGE --- Dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.
ALLEGIANCE --- My love and my devotion.
TO THE FLAG --- Our standard; Old Glory; a symbol of Freedom; wherever she waves there is respect, because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts, Freedom is everybody's job.
UNITED --- That means that we have all come together.
STATES --- Individual communities that have united into forty-eight great states. Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that is love for country.
AND TO THE REPUBLIC --- Republic -- a state in which sovereign 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.
FOR WHICH IT STANDS
ONE NATION --- One Nation so blessed by God..
[ "Under God" was added in 1954 ]
INDIVISIBLE --- Incapable of being divided.
WITH LIBERTY --- Which is Freedom; the right of power to live one's own life, without threats, fear, or some sort of retaliation.
AND JUSTICE --- The principle, or qualities, of dealing fairly with others.
FOR ALL --- For All, which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.
And now, boys and girls, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands; one nation, Under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: Under God. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer, and that would be eliminated from schools, too?
- Red Skelton
(Sigh...)