Saturday, May 23 of Memorial Day weekend. This is prime time, at the fold point when spring starts to feel like summer. Or not. Now the Midwest at this juncture in May, a day can be chilly enough to demand a winter coat, or edge close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I tell myself that’s the reason I live here, and not in San Diego…

Prime time indeed for the ceremonial, the celebration of ritual. From yesterday morning till this interlude of coffee and screen time at Starbucks. We have witnessed two graduations, with after party socializing, reminding ourselves that milestones are never taken for granted. And we were present at a wedding, and the reception following, not excluding the customary imbibing of alcohol in better than usual quantities. The table conversation over a superb celebratory dinner was satisfying. Well worth the time, even if you happened to have journeyed from Nashville, Tennessee! 

Rituals are not self contained. A graduation is not to be sealed from greater historical, political, and current ways of life. I thought about that as I listened to myself, along with a field-house full of my fellow Americans recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. I recognize such is rote, a reflex of recitation. You do not need to really think about anything at all. I thought about the current meaning of the words, under the aegis of the administration ruling now, and the casino-like Wall Street economy, and the “Main Street” economy/people living hand-to-mouth waiting tables, or delivering for Grub Hub…

Here is what I came up with, the meaning of our flag here and now:

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.

Enough to take one’s breath isn’t it? The four or five points, (how fine you’d prefer the distinctions) by and large takes measure of most of the content of the pledge. The pledge is gutted.

1) A Republic entails fair and authentic representation. The system is rife with gerrymandered districts that have allowed incumbent Party members to disenfranchise in order to remain in office well into geriatric years. And they are pedal-to-the-metal in the red states to sew up  remaining districts!

2) NOT one nation by any means. What has bound us for too long is “the land of opportunity” notion, that here is where “success” means that you deserve to be wealthy, to live from the labor of others.  And under God…. I resist a sardonic chuckle. The God of the Bible is none other than the divinity of empire, a kick-ass Old Testament vengeance filled sky-god. 

3) Indivisible by no means. I’d wager that we are about to see for ourselves what division means in the early 21st Century.

4) Liberty and Justice for All is the most cringe-worthy of all. There has NEVER, from the very beginnings, been liberty extended to all. Nor justice. Sure we’ve worked on it, but lately most of that has been taken back. Find out what our ancestors living in Salem Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693 did. Find out what happened at Wounded Knee in 1890 when between 250 and 300 Lakota people were killed, and 51 were wounded under our flag. We’ve murdered under that flag with alacrity. Ask a few female acquaintances what it is like for a woman working alongside male co-workers today.

Truthfully I’d evaluate all of us and our flag with a grade of F.

No diploma and no after-party.