Are You Smarter Than A First Grader: “Under God” and Other Important Phrases From the Pledge
Written by Audrie Zettick on December 17, 2008
Gotta love the intelligence that comes my way from the back seat, as I drive.
Spontaneously, my son asked “mom, what does ‘Under God’ mean?” He then quickly followed by asking the meaning of “justice.”
The irony is that my son was born in and adopted from Ukraine and–according to their laws–until he rejects his Ukrainian citizenship when he turns 18, he has dual citizenship. I believe he was asking about something that many U.S.-born citizens take as just rote–spitting out the words with little thought to their meaning. Words than many on the far left would just as soon flush down the toilet in a warping of the concept of diversity and humanism.
Oh. And the other irony is that my son is in first grade.
What Does It Mean?
Moms and dads both know that you generally don’t have time to think about the answer to questions from the backseat. So, after fiddling with the volume on the radio, I composed my answer. Sure, it was in first-grade “speak” but maybe that’s how we need to teach our population as a whole on this issue.
I explained. “Under God” means several things. First, if we are “under” Him than He is over us. We recognize that there is a power greater than ourselves and our government. That God has blessed us and expects us to act in a way that makes him happy, by obeying his laws even while we make our own laws. I also added that there are some people who don’t believe in God and want us not to say his name in our Pledge, but that I disagreed with that.
Justice. Well, explaining that was a bit tougher and required examples. I told him that “justice” meant being fair. (I knew I had to go further, because “fair” and “not fair” to a first grader has an entire different meaning–like sharing a new toy you just received–not “fair.” )
I explained that justice means more than fair. It means there are responsibilities, rewards and consequences. Say, for example, someone broke into our house and stole our things, or hurt someone in our family. Justice would be finding a fair punishment for them for what they did; there should be consequences. If someone works hard to provide money, a house and things for their family, it is fair that they keep what they worked for. (Of course “not fair” to the far left might be defined as not letting the family keep the fruits of their labor–letting the government redistribute it to others, but I’ll leave that for another time–say, 3rd grade).
I’m sure we’ll have many more of these conversations in the future, but for now, I think he “gets it.” I’m delighted he thinks about these things.
Do you? Are you smarter than a first grader?
By Audrie Zettick Schaller
Posted in: Uncategorized, pledge
