#I'm always gonna advocate not standing for the pledge

[symbio-ratio]

I've told this story in my tags many times before but I once had an art teacher drag me to hell and back for refusing to stand for the pledge in highschool. I can't remember why I originally stopped, but she was the reason I continued to do so. She called me ungrateful for not honoring the sacrifices made by others, and she would not get off my ass about it the whole class period. She looked so disappointed in me, and then she started trying to guilt trip and bargain with me. Over a fucking flag on the smart board. I think she said something about wheelchairs too? You can stand while people in wheelchairs can't? Wild shit. Regardless I refused to stand, because I'd been taught in Kindergarten that some people are exempt from the required standing for the pledge, and her insistence made me want to stay seated even more. Religion, culture, differing beliefs; It stuck in my mind, because everyone else always acted like you were the scum of the Earth if you didn't stand and look at the screen.

That teacher ended up apologizing the next day. I guess someone snitched on her or another student told her off. I didn't care myself, and I continued to refuse standing for the rest of my highschool years. I see that moment as the beginning of the downfall of my trust in that woman, because she only got worse from there. Ironically, she spiralled hard when Trump got elected about a year or two later. I don't think I've ever seen a person unravel so thouroughly before. And every time she took time out of our period to go on worse and worse rants about that man, I'd wonder if she remembered the way she looked down at me that day for refusing to stand for this country.

You don't HAVE to stand for the pledge. It is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL. They cannot legally force you to stand for the pledge. It is a purely social consequence thing, and I don't think your peers these days are gonna fault you for not standing.

If a teacher hitches a fit over you not standing for the pledge? Be suspicious as fuck at this point. Sorry not sorry but shit is getting wild these days. If you're getting that pissy about a still image of a flag on a smart board and a crackly ass song going through your shitty school speakers, then my trust in your goes down a couple points and they are not coming back up again.

dear usamerican high schoolers looking for a way to resist fascism: sit through the pledge of allegiance.

no getting up. no looking at the flag.

everyone will be looking at you. you'll be sweating like a fucking hippopotamus. your teacher will sternly tell you to get up. you'll feel stupid and that maybe its not worth it because you're just a kid in a classroom. but I'm here to remind you that there are no real life consequences to detention. there are however real life consequences to resisting a thoughtless performance of nationalism.