my reason for not saying the Pledge.

EDIT: i'm sorry. i wrongly stated in this blog that the Pledge of Allegiance was created in the 1940's. I must correct myself. it was actually written by a Socialist, but it was in 1892, and it originally said:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

it was edited in 1923 to say:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

and then in 1954, Eisenhower responded to Communist threats by adding "Under God" into it, and it then and now read:

"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."


you can read more about the history of the Pledge here at this website:
http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

Well, in response to recent events with people...i decided you all might want a bit of explaining. to those of you who don't know, i do not say the pledge of allegiance. i was recently called on this, and i think i may have gotten some people really mad at me for it. so i decided that you deserve to know why. i'm not atheist by any means. you know that. but there is more than one reason for not saying the pledge. i do believe in God, and i do support our country. remember that when you read this. i am not against America. but this is why i do not say the pledge.

first off, the pledge of allegiance was written when? in the 1800's? when the country was founded? no. it was written in 1892 by a Socialist. a Socialist. right there is warning bell #1. if a Socialist wrote it, he wasn't really thinking about the free republic of America, was he?

secondly. here is the main reason:

why pledge your allegiance to a piece of cloth that is a symbol of whatever the gov't decides to do? think about it: the flag is merely as symbol. if your allegiance is to the flag, whatever the government decides to make it stand for is what you're pledging your allegiance to. if America becomes a socialist nation(as it basically already is), the flag will still stand for America. it will just stand for Socialist America. Symbols change meaning. i refuse to pledge my allegiance to the symbol of a country that is very, very quickly becoming Socialist. i personally would much rather pledge allegiance to something solid. my mom and i decided that the Constitution would do very well. It spells out very clearly everything that this country was built for and everything that it was intended to be. it is set in stone. it won't be changed. symbols change. words don't. I personally would much rather pledge my allegiance to what our Founding Fathers built this great nation up to be as opposed to a symbol of what our nation is currently. that's my personal choice. that's my reason.

i hope that now you understand a bit better. i am not against America. i am certainly not Atheist. i simply believe in America, and everything that it was intended to, and can still be.

i thank you for reading and understanding.

peace and love to everyone,
Cody

courage

is an interesting thing. i've been thinking about it recently quite heavily. mostly because of a very close friend who displayed an incredible amount of courage today. it got me to thinking. what do the movies portray courage as? they portray it as "oh, i'm so tough. i'm never afraid of anything. i'm BRAVE!!!!" but is it really? no. courage is doing something even though it scares the crap out of you. it's doing it in spite of that natural fear. i see people doing this all the time.
I want to commend all of the people i know, and one person in particular (though i don't think they'll be reading this anytime soon), for when they display this kind of courage. i hope that i can someday have the same courage as you. kudos.

and to everyone: courage. it is not being unafraid. it's doing what needs to be done in spite of fear. i heard a good song by The Fray, in which he sings: "Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." this is so true. often, the hardest things in life are what absolutely needs to be done. we can look at this from a gospel standpoint. think about it: how easy would it be to simply give in to sin and let it take over our lives? much, much easier than you think. believe me, it's easy to just give in and accept sin in our lives. it takes so much more strength and determination to fight against the never ending waves of sin that Satan throws upon us and not give in to them. I pray that we all, when the time comes and our faith and courage are tested, will have the strength to stand up against the world and shine.


Peace and Love to you all, and may you all shine bright!!

Cody