Reprinted here with permission, this opinion piece by Oyster River resident, Crescentia Anne Healy, urges the school board to get back to business, speaks to citizenship and pride in our Democratic Republic, and offers a counterpoint to John Collins' criticisms regarding the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at ORCSD board meetings:
Mr. Collins' statement, as printed in the Sept. 10 edition [of Fosters Daily Democrat], in reference to the Pledge of Allegiance and the phrase "under God" — "For some, it feels like you are cramming it down people's throats" — leads me to assume he must gag on every purchase or every cup of coffee he buys as the coins of the United States state "In God We Trust".
If there are those that find the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance offensive to them then the phrase "with Liberty" should be most important. People who find a television show offensive, change the channel; likewise a movie is unacceptable, either don't attend or walk out of the theater; a conversation within a group changes to a topic they believe offensive, they can walk away. Likewise any one on the School Board or in the community attending the School Board meetings have the same liberty. If the Pledge of Allegiance is so offensive they have similar options: to leave the meeting room; remain seated and not participate, or simply wait until that part of the meeting is over and then join their fellow board members.
But to change the format and the tradition of the School Board meetings for those who find the word "God" so offensive pivots on "the few." When laws and rules are made to the demands of "the few" the United States ceases to be a country that is a democratic republic, but an Oligarchy (Government by the few for the many).
I do not want to see the freedoms we all enjoy as a Democratic Republic be slowly eroded by capitulation to the few. And if the above solutions to this issue of mentioning the word God in our Pledge of Allegiance is found unacceptable by those few, then I must ask the question "Do you not feel so strongly in your beliefs that you are not willing to take a stand? Do you fear that you will be singled out? Or that you will be found different? And the only solution that is acceptable is to turn the School Board into an oligarchy? How sad.
I discovered in late summer 10 years ago the students at Mast Way School did not say the Pledge of Allegiance, because there were a few families that found it offensive. Ah, there is that word again "the few." When I questioned the principal he told me that these few families had become aggressive in their goal to have no Pledge of Allegiance, and it was better to drop the practice than deal with the problem. I asked where were the families now, and the Principal said that he believed they had all moved on and were no longer in the district. Summer 10 years ago? Yes, and then came fall and September 11. Our granddaughter said that her teacher asked all the students to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Alas, the only students who were able to do so were the Cub Scouts and our granddaughter.
I find it interesting that this problem has risen again and especially at this painful and traumatic time in our nation's history. I urge the School Board to get back to their business for which they were elected and by their actions set an example of citizenship and pride in our Democratic Republic for the students of the district. And those who chose the option to not participate, by any of the suggestions in paragraph two you also set an example of steadfastness to personal belief and the willingness to manifest that belief, a virtue not to be ignored. And for the rest of the board and citizens of the district be thankful to God (or the uncaused cause) that we are citizens of this country that encourages and respects the differences of the few, but are not governed by them.
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