Thanksgiving

Most of my good friends know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, at least theoretically. It is devoid of most rules, is not exclusive to any religion and there is no gift pressure beyond bringing a pie or a bottle of wine. I choose to ignore some history, though.

American Indians are probably not big fans because Thanksgiving is so closely associated with Pilgrims from the Mayflower and other Northern European refugees from a couple of other later boats. As most of us probably knew once and forgot in the meantime, the Mayflower almost didn't make it to the still waters of Cape Cod Bay. It straddled the shoreline of what is now the Cape Cod National Seashore and - had it attempted to go farther South and onto to what is now New York, it would have hit such rough seas that it would likely have either sunk at sea or been destroyed as it attempt to get close to land. After making landfall in what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, the remaining Mayflower Pilgrims were in desperate need of food, fresh water and a warm, dry place to sleep. Before settling in Plymouth, they uncovered a stash of corn at what is now Corn Hill, MA on the outer Cape. They debated briefly and then stole it. They didn't consider the Cape terribly hospitable for growing crops (they were right) so they moved across the bay, but not before running into some local Indians (at what is now called First Encounter Beach).

Plymouth didn't turn out to be the best deep water port. They eventually figured out that Boston was much better but had mostly been claimed by the time the first pilgrims realized the difference. American Indians, through alliances among tribes and with various pilgrim groups, did attempt to live peacefully and respect each other's "space", as we say today. They broke bread together, did some limited trading but nothing suggests that there was ever a big picnic table with a perfectly browned turkey, etc., with Indians and Pilgrims happily chatting over who had a better pie crust. The Indians felt threatened. The Pilgrims felt threatened, too. Then the wars came, alliances were shifted or shattered and the Pilgrims through luck, better technology and loss of life began the process of taking over New England.

I only say this because when we complain too much about American Indian tribes that establish casinos near our homes, I think it's important to understand that several hundred years ago, Europeans - mostly puritan Christians - took away so much land that it left the American Indian population practically decimated within 50 years of the first landing. I have no real interest in gambling but did go to Foxwoods in Connecticut to see what the Pequots had done to earn millions each year in gaming revenue. Much of it is cheesy but some of the revenue has gone toward preserving the spoken history of the tribe and establishing educational funding for every member of the tribe. My hope for them is that they can find a way to celebrate their own kind of Thanksgiving despite the long history of struggle and strife.

The Pledge of Allegiance

Jump to this site when you have a minute: http://www.parentdish.com/2009/11/13/student-braves-controversy-refuses-to-recite-pledge/7#comments. A gutsy 10 year old sat out the Pledge because he didn't believe its promise included lesbian and gay folks. In the accompanying commentary, there is a shit storm of protest from supposed grown-ups, some of whom advocate hurting the little boy.

His substitute teacher told him that she knew his parents and would have to report the incident to the principal. His response? "With all due respect, go jump off a bridge."

AOL must love these kinds of stories because they are sticky - i.e., that it keeps lots of right wing nuts on its site spewing hateful responses to what they have read, including advocating various sorts of punishments for the kid, including violence. There are some rational voices among the majority of malicious attacks, but they get drowned out.

I wonder what they would say if the kid's justification was that he believed that unborn fetuses were denied liberty and justice. He would likely be heralded by the same people seeking to lynch him. I certainly don't condone telling a teacher to jump off a bridge. On the other hand, who is doing the teaching here? It seems to me that this young guy was giving a lesson in civics and the teacher was uninformed about established constitutional law. I don't expect that teachers need to be constitutional scholars in order to command some respect in the classroom but should have enough savvy to handle the situation with more grace than she apparently did.

I reflexively said the Pledge each day for 12 years. At least half the class didn't know the word "indivisible" - a fairly important concept considering the American Civil War - and instead said "invisible". I never recall a teacher correcting the students or explaining the difference. So much for the real importance of the substance of the Pledge. Its real practical importance is to establish order, ritual and aid in classroom management in the early part of the day.

We are clearly a freer nation than the vast majority of others, but the freedom has to mean something beyond the recitation. As a gay man, my constitutional rights are more limited than they are for straight folks. I don't expect a 10 year old to fight for me. I can handle that myself.

Leave this kid alone. I have heard far too much garbage about how parents - not schools - are supposed to teach values to hear advocates of that approach attack parents whose message on values differ from theirs. We can't have it both ways. If the school forces the kid to recite the Pledge, it's teaching values which, in this case, is the value of intolerance for dissent. If that's okay with you, don't complain when the same school gives a lesson in values that differs from your own. If you think the kid is too young to understand the Pledge, its history and meaning, why are we asking him to recite it at all?