I’m not pledging my allegiance to any country that favors war, abortion, capital punishment, and massive environmental damage. (Short list, but that's another rant anyway.)
What happened on September 11th was horrible, but I don’t see why I should start loving this country because people died. I am upset that people died; not because there were Americans who were killed, but because there were people who were killed. If anything, I hate this country for going and killing even more people after the incident. (But since we’re killing non-Americans, it’s fine, right?)
Not only that, but I really think that the government is sort of dictating their own religion now. It offends me greatly that prayer in school is illegal, but the pledge of allegiance is mandatory. As far as I know, it’s required for schools to deliver the pledge, but students aren’t required to recite it if they don’t want to (I really doubt the government would’ve been able to get away with that, although I’m still surprised that they didn’t try), but I still am offended that the government is pushing this and shoving religion under the rug. Plus even though we students aren’t required to recite it, there’s a huge pressure to do it. It's hard for me to not stand up with the rest of the class, but I wouldn't feel right compromising my principles. Last year during an assembly, my homeroom teacher even chastised me for not standing and reciting the pledge.
Anyway, I doubt that this law is going to stay in effect very long. It doesn’t seem like one of those things that I can imagine schools doing for years to come. And even if they do, at least I'm graduating this year.
By the way, I don't do things like this because I'm trying to be a bitch. If I really felt like being a bitch, then I would just not care at all about the war. And before any more people ask me, no, I don't know how I would handle this problem, but I do know how I wouldn't handle it... but I suppose that's why I'm not the president, eh? (P.S. I've been feeling sick lately. Give me some leeway here. When I feel like crap, I usually say things that I regret later.)