The Pledge of Alligence by Red Skeleton

The following words were spoken by the late Red Skelton on his television program as he related the story of his teacher, Mr. Laswell, who felt his students had come to think of the Pledge of Allegiance as merely something to recite in class each day. Now, more than ever, listen to the meaning of these words. "I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance allsemester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word?"

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's 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 48 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's love for country.
And to the 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, meaning "so blessed by God"
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 quality of dealing fairly with others.
For all	which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.

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?

God Bless America

So here is what the pledge of Alligance means to red skeleton and I definitely agree that unless you take the time to break part this ideas into sizable chunks, then you are not able to develop a appropaite understanding of the subject. For the next couple of entries I am going to be focusing on developing some of the ideal statements of the movement, into easy to understandable chunks that everyone can interpret.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616