Facebook, Little League and Respect for a Symbol

I saw a FB post today about a Little League coach who was teaching his young charges how to act during the Pledge of Allegiance and the playing of the Star Spangled Banner before games; that they should stand quietly and respectfully, take their caps off and all that. There were a bunch of supportive comments and “Likes” to this, and on the surface, who could object to teaching respectfulness and manners to a gaggle of rowdy kids? Certainly not me. But there was a deeper conversation that bubbled up, and that’s my topic for this post.

When I was a kid growing up as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Illinois farm country, every school morning started out with the Pledge, and music class generally had the National Anthem as part of it (we had a music teacher who apparently felt that would somehow instill patriotism and hopefully better behavior in us). As Witnesses, we of course didn’t salute the flag or sing the Anthem, and I still can feel the awkwardness and ostracism that inevitably came our way for that. But it was also very clear to me that the reason for our behavior was not out of disrespect for the flag, for the country, for the sacrifices made by members of the military or anything you can say the flag stands for; we simply viewed God’s laws as higher than the governments, and having dedicated our lives to God we could not also dedicate our lives to the United States, or perform what we interpreted as an act of worship to the government (the flag salute is actually interpreted to be a prayer). It may seem odd to equate saluting the flag or singing the National Anthem with dedicating one’s life, and I suppose it could be argued that wasn’t what those actions actually represented, but Witnesses believed that they did. (And for what it’s worth, how else would you interpret “I pledge allegiance”?)

But back to my point. While Witnesses didn’t feel that we could in good conscience perform these actions, we were taught to have great respect for the laws of the country. We paid taxes, obeyed speed limits, didn’t lie, cheat or steal not because we didn’t want to get caught in bad behavior, but because God commanded we respect and obey the laws on the land. In fact, not doing so carried a much greater stigma, because we would have been disobeying not just “Man’s laws” but God’s as well, and that would be bad. Very bad.

So all in all, JW’s are outstanding citizens. They just don’t participate in voting, military service, etc. because of their belief that God’s laws supersede Man’s. With that in mind, let’s take another look at our Little League Coach. If all he’s doing is teaching these youngsters respect for a symbol without tying that to a deeper lesson, he’s doing them a huge disservice. Respect for the flag and the National Anthem are hollow unless they drive day-to-day behavior. They need to be taught that the flag and the Anthem stand for something; they’re symbols rather than the reality. They stand for respect for other people, regardless of their race, religion, background or economic status. They stand for acceptance of many different viewpoints. They stand for the right of others to think whatever they choose and to speak their mind, even when what they say is completely contrary to what you might believe and may in fact be abhorrent. They stand for the right to worship any religion one may choose, or none at all.

It’s easy to salute a flag or sing a stirring song at baseball games. What’s hard is living a life that honors that symbol and truly represents what that flag stands for.