Freedom of speech includes silence: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

I am American-born and -bred, have enjoyed the bounty of the nation's freedoms, and I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. I haven't for years -- regardless of how that upset my schoolteachers or the beefed-up guys sitting next to me at ballgames.

To me, not pledging allegiance is one of the most patriotic things I've ever done.

I didn't start this way. As a grade school student, I stood without question. It was like studying math or doing homework -- just another part of the routine, done at someone's instruction. I knew the words, sure, but I never thought much of them. That wasn't part of the exercise.

But one day in early high school, at the University School of Nova Southeastern University in Davie, a boy named Tommy remained seated during the pledge. I hadn't thought much of it, but our teacher considered it an assault.

"Stand up right now!" he said.

Tommy refused. The teacher's face grew red, and he started to yell. That's when I jumped in.

The issue seemed simple enough: If the flag represents our rights, it also represents our right not to stand and pledge. I tried arguing it with the teacher -- who, I admit, I didn't like much anyway -- but he was having none of it. It was his class and his rules, he said, and so Tommy has to stand.

"That's illegal," I said, ignorant of whether it was or not.

"So get a lawyer," he said.

That sounded expensive, so I instead went to the school headmaster to plead my case. She told me to put my argument in writing, and I hit the books. I discovered a 1943 Supreme Court decision -- the same one that, this month, led to the federal court ruling that knocked down Florida's law mandating students stand for the pledge.

A few days later, I presented my report to the headmaster. She talked it over with some other faculty and then told me I was right. Students were free to make their own decisions.

For the rest of my years there, I refused to stand for the pledge. It wasn't out of disrespect for the country; it was to exercise a right I had fought for. That seemed pretty American to me.

Opponents of the court ruling have said it sapped Florida schools of their patriotism. That's not true. To honor a country based on freedom, patriotic expression should be by choice, not force. In making students stand, shoulders slumped, mumbling words they've thought nothing about, Florida was doing nobody justice.

I'm now a reporter in Massachusetts, and my job requires me to attend a lot of government meetings. Even today, I don't pledge. I'll stand so as to not draw attention to myself, but I don't put my hand to my chest or speak the words. It makes me remember that, even in front of public officials, I have this right.

I think about it almost every time. And that, to me, is a more meaningful exercise than reciting a pledge I learned by rote.

Jason Feifer grew up in Coral Springs. He is a freelance reporter in Massachusetts. E-mail him at jasonfeifer@hotmail.com.