Food for Thought

I'm about to give you a history lesson.

In 1892, the editor of "THE YOUTH'S COMPANION", Mr. James Bailey Upham, suggested to President Benjamin Harrison that he believed that our country was being taken for granted by the nation's youth.  Approximately 400 years earlier, America had been discovered by Christopher Columbus.  Mr. Upham wanted a national revival.  Pres. Harrison took the suggestion to congress. 

Mr. Upham had this to say for the nation to hear.

"The flame of patriotism is dying out in this country and I believe the place to revive that intense spirit is among America's schoolchildren."

The Congress of 1892 declared that from that point on, October 12th would be a national holiday in honor of Christopher Columbus.

Soon after that, Mr. Upham and other organizers began their campaign to raise an American flag at every school in the United States of America.  Soon, people came up with the idea that our American schoolchildren should take a vow to their flag.  It went like this.


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


Right away, an estimated two million schoolchildren stood up and took their vows.

By the time that I entered school in 1966, the pledge had changed somewhat.  It went like this:


"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."

Every morning at the beginning of school, all students capable of standing were asked to say the Pledge of Allegiance outloud.  All throughout my school tenure, most people gave their vow every day except for the few back then who had religious beliefs other than those of Christians. Those people remained sitting in their desks.  But as time went on, a movement began by one atheist.. The movement went from the northern border to the southern border and from the western border to the eastern border of the nation.  Though MOST Americans wanted the Pledge to continue to be spoken every morning at school, the FEW Americans against it succeeded in getting it illegalized in public school systems in all American states.

Anyway, God spoke to my heart today and asked me to post this here for you to read.  Do with it whatever you want.

VLE-B