Patriotism and School

Last night my oldest son and his classmates put on a school presentation. The presentation was about our government and its symbols. The presentation started off with the Pledge of Allegiance. I always get emotional when saying the Pledge. It means something to me to be an American.

The next part of the program talked about our National Anthem. The children did a wonderful job of presenting how Francis Scott Key was inspired to pen the words.

The children then went into the three branches of government. For the Legislative they put on the School House Rock "I'm Just a Bill". It was funny but also showed how a law starts with an idea and goes through the process of getting signed into law.

The executive branch was up next. For this one several students did brief presentations on past Presidents. My oldest did one of these presentations. His was on William McKinley. He did a tremendous job even having blood stains on his shirt to show where McKinley was shot by an assassin.

Next up was the Judicial branch. The kids did a short trial replicating the case of "B.B. Wolf vs Curly Tail Pig". It was a good performance even though I thought the jury got it wrong. Curly Tail is innocent I tell ya!

The most emotional part of the production came next. The meaning of the flag. The children explained why our colors are red, white and blue, why we have 13 stripes and why there are 50 stars. I learned why we have the colors we do.

The emotional part was having one of the teachers explain what the flag means to him. He's a member of the National Guard and is being deployed to Afghanistan in July. He was dressed in uniform and explained the flag while two of the children properly folded a flag. The flag was later presented to the teacher so that he could carry it with him during his deployment.

Finally everyone was invited to sing Lee Greenwood's "Proud to Be an American". The chorus goes:

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

 This was the perfect time for this presentation. This is Memorial Day weekend where we should all take the time to remember those who have served our country. I'm glad the kids were able to learn about the importance of our government's structure, it's Anthem, Pledge and Flag. Hopefully they can join in the singing as I do "'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA!"