As a teacher in a public school the Pledge of Allegiance is a daily ritual, but it's one I don't particularly care for. This speaks to one of the reasons why.

 "How does one hate a country, or love one? I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry?" 

~ Ursula K. Le Guin

  “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”— Frantz Fanon (1925 - 1961)  

"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere" ~ Hermes Trismegistus  

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” - Marcus Aurelius  

Something to keep in mind as we head into the silly season of elections. (Not to mention AI and UFOs and conspiracy theories and...)