Today, my friend Andrew Mager linked to this video on CNN.com:
I found the video intriguing but I think most people enjoyed it simply because the kid was in the 5th grade and was so well versed on our 1st amendment rights with enough knowledge of our constitutional rights to also answer questions about them on national television. My thoughts on this matter are different because he only is taking the stand for one thing and yes it’s a big thing so I’m not saying he’s on the wrong path. The right to marry shouldn’t be a debate in my eyes but the argument that allowing same-sex couples to marry will harm the sanctity of marriage is pretty in-valid as I’ve written about here before with a few extra thoughts [link].
Despite the kid’s awesome thought process and that he’s taking a stand at such a young age which, in turn, results in him being called a “gay wad” he’s still missing the big picture here. The fact that liberty and justice for all is pretty much flawed simply because we as humans are flawed. When is the last time justice was actually served for anything? The justice system is royally broken and humans in the form of judges and juries and law makers continue to throw in their own life experiences and thoughts into the process which makes everything up for interpretation so you end up with a system that doesn’t really work.
I’m not even going to talk about Liberty. Honestly, the Wikipedia page on liberty is pretty long and yeah I skimmed the whole thing with the intention of reading in depth later. The short end of this is that liberty is non-existent for many of the reasons that the justice system is broken. Humans have opinions based on experiences and learned behavior. There are billions of humans and we all have our own opinion so giving everyone liberty will simply never happen no matter what people try.
I am proud of the kid for taking a stand but our pledge of allegiance is simply flawed in so many ways that I’m surprised it’s still recited in schools. Removing the, “under God.” line back when I was in school was an interesting choice that most schools in America didn’t adhere to anyway because they saw the change as denouncing God and allowing the atheists to win the argument which is completely false. The whole thing just stinks but there’s something a friend said to me on Friday that rang true.
As she, a native of Holland, sat with me in an Italian restaurant said to me, “I love America because the food diversity is so amazing. Letting everyone move here was a smart move!” I thought to myself, yes but it also meant religions, policies, teachings and ideals were brought here as well. I applaud America’s stance in the last 200 years of allowing people from all over to come here as it was the land of opportunity but our constitution wasn’t really designed to support hundreds of religions and to this day, hate crimes are still common in every state and people are judged by their skin color in every way. There is no liberty and justice for all.
To bring my point home, it shouldn’t have been a big deal and so highly publicized that a black man became president and a Latino women was made elected to the supreme court. It was a big deal because it’s so abnormal. People of color and women becoming leaders in any form is still “newsworthy” when it should be normal. It shouldn’t be abnormal at all but it was and this proves why liberty and justice have and always will be flawed. Until we as humans evolve to rid ourselves of hatred for anyone that’s different, this boy will never be able to say the pledge of allegiance.