Today’s menu: chicken parm, garlic bread, salad, fruit cup
So I looked down and today’s lunch (see first picture) and thought, “what are those white things?” They are onions in the tomato sauce on top of the chicken patty in case you wondered. The chicken tasted juicy; however, you can see that it’s not pure chicken meat. It’s mixed with some kind of filler to make it bouncier, airy almost.
The garlic bread smelled divine. I haven’t had garlic bread in a very long time (now that I rarely eat bread), the last time being at least six months ago. I suggest roasting your own garlic if you want to make garlic bread at home. Roasting your own garlic is easy and the taste is out of this world (basically you will want to eat it alone!), but it does take about 30 minutes in the oven so you have to have a little time (you can prepare other stuff while you wait).
A food scientist somewhere has found a way to replicate the amazing aroma of garlic for school lunch garlic bread, but I doubt that any garlic was involved in the making of this bread. It tasted convincing actually.
one Nation
under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.”
Did you know that each school treats the pledge routine differently? Some schools have the principal read the pledge every morning over the PA, other schools have kids read it, other schools have other staff read it. Some have the anthem first, others have the pledge. Some schools have the kids sing the pledge over the PA, or a musically inclined staff member sings it live, and other schools use a recording and many children who are hard of hearing or deaf sign it. Sometimes the quality of the recording played over the speaker is bad.
Some schools stop everything when the pledge or anthem is playing on the speaker with no walking in the hallways or moving around in the classrooms, other schools demand simple silence, and even other schools just go about their business during the pledge and anthem as if nothing is happening. It’s really quite amazing how different schools are….in so many ways. If we can’t even standardize the pledge between schools, how can we change school lunches in a meaningful way for all students?
The pledge is actually sort of heavy lifting for most elementary school kids: concepts like “allegiance” and “justice” are tough to grasp. It’s not exactly kid-friendly (but of course important — I’m not saying it should be kid-friendly). How many classes try to break down the vocabulary from the pledge? Do they know what they are saying? Is it meaningful to them or are they going through the motions?
Here’s where I delve into another totally random thought I would never speak aloud… Wouldn’t it be great if once a month kids could hear a Muppets song over the PA? Not in place of the pledge, but maybe the last Friday of the month just before they head out for the weekend couldn’t they could hear some Gloria Estefan or something? How ’bout this blast from the past:
Not exactly peppy, but beautiful and contemplative. Can you tell that I was born in the 1970s and my mom was a hippie? Please forgive this randomness and thanks for indulging me….
I'm going to be quite honest, though:
After 9 years of saying the pledge 180 days a year, it gets kind of annoying and starts to feel really repetitive and pointless.
Maybe I'm just not patriotic.
yeah, that chicken doesn't look so good
Just Better Together
I'm going to have to agree with Canama. I'm still in school (sophomore year of high school) and frankly, I don't feel that the pledge is anything patriotic. As bad as it may seem, I don't even stand for the pledge anymore; why stand if it means nothing to me?
We don't have the anthem played in the morning at any of the schools where I live. The principal, or the president of the SCA says the pledge, we have a moment of silence (one minute, though it often goes over), then we go on with our days.
Barely anybody actually says the pledge along with the announcer, as we have been taught to do in elementary and middle school. Only about half of the class stands. We are not "required" to do anything. During the moment of silence, we are quiet only if the teacher decides that he/she wants us to be quiet. It really varies.
To me, the pledge is obnoxious. I am an opinionated atheist, and the forcing of "under God" into my throat as a child angers me. Not every student believes in God, and not every student should have to. I do believe that we should be patriotic to an extent, but it feels almost as if children are being brainwashed. If you want children to be patriotic, teach them about our history, and teach them to be proud about how our country is; don't teach them how to repeat a slogan about our country that they can barely understand.
I didn't want to get into it in the body of the post since that's not what the post is about, but I'm not religious and the pledge means something to me. They aren't mutually exclusive.
I worry that it is a rote exercise for most students. And if so, why do it? That might be a rhetoric question…
wow! i had no idea that kids still had to parrot the pledge everyday. is it compulsory for everyone at your school?
Isn't it everywhere? I'd just assumed…
When I was in elementary school (K-5), we recited the pledge every morning – it was led by the teacher, not over the PA system. Some teachers followed the pledge with a song – I remember singing "This Land is Your Land" in third grade, but I think it might have been once a week. I also remember hearing the class next door yell "T..G..I..F!!!!" every Friday 🙂
I went to a K-12 school and I remember in elementary (K-4), each class said the pledge of allegiance sans the PA system. Afterwards (or beforehand, depending on when the class got around to saying the pledge), all of the birthdays of that day from K-4 would be announced by the principal via PA system and I always thought it was neat. It definitely made your special day even better when it was your birthday.
In 5-12, the same senior throughout the whole year would say the pledge of allegience. I remember as a middle and high school student, we stook there with our hands over our hearts looking annoyed that we had to stand up and bored throughout it. No one was obligated to say the pledge along with the speaker.
On to a different topic, do they offer other dressings aside from ranch? I see that it's fat free, but it certainly isn't the healthiest (plus some kids, including mine, just plain don't like ranch!).
Also, is breakfast offered at your school, Mrs. Q? Just curious. Breakfast was offered at my school and I happily went with my friends in grade 3, 4, and 5. It was more of an adventure away from the classroom (we could walk there and back by ourselves!) than about the food. A typical breakfast was milk and either soggy pancakes or single-serve cereal boxes.
I am certain that at some point or another during my childhood/adolesent years, I thought that the Pledge was pointless. The words sounded foreign and lost meaning once they were repeated all those years in a row. However, I can say now that with maturity and a better understanding of what being proud of your country and those who serve it really means, it has regained its place in my heart. "Under God" does not have to be taken literally, no matter what your beliefs are. It can just stand for the people who are proud of our country and who serve to protect it. I think that students should be taught the background to the Pledge that they are saying, and why they are saying that. Maybe then, it wont take until adulthood to realize that it is an important thing.
You think allegiance and justice are tough to grasp? Try God. That 1950's addition to the compulsory pledge in a public school is more than a lot of us parents can wrap our heads around. Our children are "swearing" as in taking a solemn oath to something and they have no idea what on earth they are saying. If the pledge is to be compulsory, one of the first things they should learn is what the heck it means. Otherwise, no student should be required to pledge an oath to something they don't understand.
And don't even get me started on requiring public school students to pledge oaths under God. Little kids don't understand that they have a choice to say it or not. They're well indoctrinated before they even get a chance to understand that they're promising something.
They are promising something rather substantial, no? Yes, heavy stuff. Actually I'm not religious (not even a smidge), but I still don't mind the pledge. Sometimes I think adults need to be a little more reflective in the morning — what would happen if every adult had to start their day off with a pledge of allegiance?? Chew on that one…
With all due respect Mrs. Q. I'm a blog lover and think you are great. But you said "I didn't want to get into it in the body of the post since that's not what the post is about,"
Your title of this post and the prevalence of your discussion of the pledge does not lead the topic into just a passive subject in this post. The title and the meat of the post are most definitely an invitation to discuss.
You've shared your feelings on how the pledge impacts you and the way you feel about it. Like you do about food.
I think it's o.k. to see the variety in which other parents feel about it too. Educators need to know that the pledge system is broken. For several reasons.
To me, the first was when they messed with it by adding "under god" to it 200 years after it was penned. The intent of the pledge was to be about pure patriotism to country.
I guess I didn't want the post to focus on the debate of whether or not the pledge should have "under God" in it. I certainly want to discuss the pledge, but I didn't want to go overboard on a discussion about whether or not it should have "under God" as a verse. I would say that considering the politic climate in which we live, that phrase is going nowhere. I don't want to get into a big religious discussion as that really is private territory.
"my dad would yell at my sister and I to eat the airplane food because . . ."
Not trying to be snarky, but since you're a teacher, I just thought I'd suggest that you edit a tad more carefully.
I think, at some point while I was there, my elementary school stopped having us recite the pledge every morning. By that time, of course, it was committed to memory, and I can still recite it without really thinking about it.
But, I figure that since it's a free country, we are completely within our rights to recite an earlier version of the pledge, namely the one without the "under God" line. That does take thought (and mental retraining). And it definitely is a private choice. 🙂
I haven't read all the comments so someone may have suggested it, but I think if we said the pledge less often in school, it might mean more.
When I was in high school (graduated two years ago) our student president would say the pledge every morning during second period before announcements. What we did depended on the teacher, but most just asked that you were quiet and respectful during the pledge. Senior year my teacher tried to be forceful about making everyone stand, even if we didn't want to say it, and being forced to do that seemed to just take even more away from the whole thing.
Also, I remember in fifth grade my teacher NEVER made us say the pledge (we didn't have it said over the announcements) and one day when we had a substitute, she made everyone say the pledge, and I had COMPLETELY forgotten the words! So never saying it probably isn't a good idea either, as it is important.
I remember in elementary school (about 4th grade) one of my teachers had us write what we thought the words to the pledge were. Now I was an above average student but it turned out I didn't have a clue. For example, instead of "for which it stands" I wrote "for Richard stands." Next the entire class worked together to put it in words we understood. We ended up with "I promise loyalty to the flag of the United States of America and to the government for which it stands, one country, under God, undivided, with freedom and fairness for all." I can't believe I remember that 15 years later.
My daughter's K-6 school does the pledge on the playground, first thing in the morning. All the kids line up on the blacktop by class, and each week a different class is assigned to stand up front, bear the American and state flags, and lead the pledge via microphone. They play a couple of patriotic songs over a portable PA, and then there are general school announcements.
In a way I think having the pledge every day is a bad idea, because if you say it all the time as part of your routine, it becomes something rote that you don't really think about anymore. Maybe it should be reserved for particularly solemn occasions, to keep it fresh and significant.
I only remember the Pledge during 6th grade in Seattle (one of the eight schools I attended in Washington, Oklahoma, and Hawaii), which is when I also remember not being sure about the whole god thing and being pretty annoyed to be forced by peer pressure to go along with the whole pledge thing. For a while I'd just stand up with everyone else and mumble a bit, but then started saying it and leaving out "under god" bit.
I still resent it though, and it probably did more harm than good.
Not that it matters if there is one more or less reader, but the pledge thing was too much for me. I am pretty disgusted that a teacher would support something that shouldn't be anywhere near a classroom of impressionable people. For both the "patriotic" and "religious" aspects of it.
I wish you luck with the rest of your project.
Wow, it's been a long time since I really listened to the rainbow connection. Blast from the past!
(And religion may be private territory to you, but it ceases to be private when it becomes sponsored/established by the State, which is what the "Under God" pledge is. No getting around it.)
As a non-American, I have to say that I think it is excellent that both the Pledge and your National Anthem is said/sung/listened to at most schools on a daily basis. It's good that your children are reminded who they are and where they come from and what their country stands for and that pride in their nationality is being encouraged. Here in the UK, there would be so much debate about who was being offended by which part of the pledge and the anthem that it would turn into a joke.
I'm currently a student who is not at all too far from her grade and high school days.
As people have said before, I'm a bit ambivalent about the fact that the pledge was said every day in my grade school (at least in the early years). I guess I wouldn't know it any other way, but at the same time, reflecting back as an adult I wonder why it's there, when it's clearly indoctrinating kids to some vague set of "American values," some of which, as has been shown, many Americans don't agree with. (Also, I'm from the South, so for better or worse we had people who wouldn't say it for the "indivisible" part, either.)
The under god part was added during the cold war because communist countries were atheist and the McCarthy type propagandists wanted to set us apart from that. So, oddly enough the under god part has more to do with fear and hate than anything else.
I never said the pledge in elementary school, but at a catholic high school we had to say the pledge and a prayer every morning. I personally feel that saying the pledge is a little like brainwashing – it is just a little creepy to me to have hundreds of kids in a school mumbling the words every morning.
On the other hand, for those of you who complain about the 'under god' thing in the pledge…it says in god we trust on our money, will you stop using money too?
LOL! You sound like you are coming on board on the Traditional, Real and Nourishing Foods circuit! Please do! I really think there is something to it!
And you ask if there is any virtue in going through the motions. For young children I think there is something to it. My babies are too young to truly understand things like prayer and the pledge of allegience (citizenship), but I think it is very important that they get used to saying it. Not because of the words, but because when I pray (or other things) with my kids, I am teaching them that I value these words and I am taking time out to be a good citizen or spiritual. When they get older they will understand that the words have a deeper meaning, but experiencing the ritual of DOING it everyday will show them that it is important to do more than understand the words.
I have always believed that kids learn by doing and seeing your actions as a parent. And whatever you aren't doing isn't even on the menu for your kids to choose as a behavior.
At our school the pledge is done by the classroom teacher. Some teachers do the pledge, some have "pledge leader" as a classroom job, some do the pledge then sing the school song (mainly k,1,2), and some teachers don't even do the pledge.
When I did my student teaching in a CPS school, I didn't hear the pledge once. I asked a teacher about it and she said it was too controversial so she skipped it. Some kids wouldn't stand up, some refused to say it, some argued about the "under God" part.
Seems a small price to pay for a free education to stand up and be respectful while those around you recite something they believe in, even if you don't.
I distinctly remember being in a very low grade (sometime in Elementary School) and being taught the meaning of each word in the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember being very excited to know the meaning of those complicated words I had to recite every morning. Of course, every school is different, but some schools to instruct their children on the meaning.
I have a faint memory of my 4th grade teacher having us sing the Schoolhouse Rock version of the preamble to the constitution on Fridays, after we said the pledge. We all looked forward to it– and I can still sing it, 30 years later…
and that's a sad looking lunch…
I went to grade school a while back in Iowa and Illinois, and middle and high school in Illinois, all public schools. I only remember the pledge being recited in grade school. From 7th grade on, I don't recall it as part of the school day. I never remember the anthem being played in any school as part of the normal school day, just at sporting events.
Perhaps they've made a comeback though. Much like the persistent playing of "God Bless America" at baseball games, this country seems to be in an era of easy patriotic gestures like standing for a pledge or song, the meaning of which is generally not reflected upon. And you can't suggest that they be removed even if they aren't a long-standing (more than 10 years) tradition lest you be branded unpatriotic (which is often shorthand for "you don't agree with me").
I have two issues with the pledge itself. One is the "under god" section of the pledge, which I feel is in violation of the separation of church and state. Additionally, why are we pledging allegiance to a flag? It is one thing to be patriotic, but another to essentially worship a piece of cloth.
My third grade daughter's school says the pledge every day. My husband and I have told her she does not have to say it, and we have explained our reasons why we don't and why we would prefer if she didn't. But at that age, she is strongly "encouraged" to say it with the rest of the class. Now, every time she sees a flag she says it and I have to restrain myself from cringing.
In fact, the pledge was written in 1892 (so it's only a smidge over a hundred years old, and it's NOT a part of our foundational documentation as many believe), by a [Socialist] minister named Francis Bellamy. In that first version, there was no reference to the US at all; Bellamy apparently hoped that youth of all nations could recite it in fealty to their own varied nations. As others have pointed out, the (ironic) Red Scare of the '50s led to the addition of the words "under God" in 1954–my mom was appalled when I came home from school in 1959 and recited the Pledge WRONG because of those additional words that had not been part of the version SHE had repeated throughout HER public school years. A quick search reveals, though, that there were many alterations to the original in the years between 1892 and 1954; oddly, no revision has been done since, and the only proposed revision to remove those offending words and return the Pledge to something closer to its original has been met as heretical and indicative of our nation's continuing moral slump…that being proffered by people who fail to acknowledge the moral turpitude of endorsing plagiaristic raidings upon the intellectual property of Mr. Bellamy, which is, of course, the net result of making wholesale revisions of his original text.
As an American Lit teacher, I lead my high school juniors through an explication of the Pledge and the Declaration of Independence–both in their ORIGINAL forms and in the ensuing permutations both experienced before coming down to us in their currently-fixed forms. Doing so leads to questions, yes, and answers, of course, and a firmer and more informed basis from which each is able to describe his or her individual allegiance and civil duty as citizens.
More irony? My foreign exchange students unfailingly "get" this more quickly than my American kids do…
For a good look at the alteration of the Pledge, check out
And from my perspective? If you claim to be American and you haven't already done so, you really should READ THE "DEAR JOHN" LETTER that the Declaration of Independence IS in the form Thomas Jefferson (and Ben Franklin) originally proposed it–with all that was ultimately deleted INTACT. Really. Go read it.
The first thing I can remember learning as a kindergartner was which hand was my right — because this was the hand that needed to go over your heart during the Pledge. After that, I parroted it every day all through elementary school and half way through junior high, without ever getting any instruction as to what it meant.
I was an eighth grader before I finally grasped what I was promising, and that's when I stopped saying it. I'd stand silently, in respect, but say nothing. Once "under God" is taken out, maybe I'll say it again, but forcing kids to pledge loyalty every morning feels sort of brainwash-y to me.
When I say the Pledge of Allegiance, the "under God" part bugs me, too, so instead I say "under the USDA" and then I feel ever so much more accurate. Of course, after "with liberty and justice for all" I also have to add another line, "which, hopefully some day will include kids who eat school lunch" 😉
As for "In God We Trust" on the dollar bill, that doesn't freak me out nearly as much as that eyeball at the top of the pyramid. What's up with THAT?
Wow, I haven't thought of the Pledge for a long time. I think I had to recite it way back in the dark ages when I was in elementary school. My daughter goes to a secular private school, and they certainly don't recite it. If they did anything with the Pledge it would be to examine it in detail –both the words and historical context.
I think reciting the Pledge every day, especially without being taught what it actually means, how it has been edited, and how it was originally created, is a lot like having pictures of your friendly dictator plastered on every government building. Creepy.
I also think it's more important to take a good look at the failings of your own country, than to recite a few lines about it's ideal. That way we might grow up more aware of how we have missed creating the ideal. Best would be to truly compare the ideal and reality as part of our education.
I have a sticker on my office door that says "Liberty and Justice For All. Offer not available in some areas. Prices subject to change." To me, that's where our country is right now, and the state of school lunches are a good example of how far we still have to go to meet the promises in the Pledge.
When I was in the classroom as a teacher, we didn't do the pledge. It's really just routine and holds no meaning. It is different for different schools. I live in the south, and it is common for there to be a prayer at the beginning of school meetings and classroom holiday meals.
I can't believe someone has decided to come to your blog and criticize your grammar. Apparently, because you are a teacher, you're expected to be on alert for every single grammar rule in the entire world. I guess that means a cashier should be checking me out at a store even if they're not working? Maybe someone should be collecting my trash if they're not working.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make the guess that the chicken parm "filler" is soy. I was just reviewing the potential evils of soy on Michael Pollan's site earlier today:
http://michaelpollan.com/resources/sustainable-eating-nutrition/#faqstart
Have you and your students read his ground breaking book, the Ominvore's Dilemma (there is a young reader's edition)?
And thanks for reminding me of the Rainbow Connection… 🙂
My school said the pledge every day from K-8. In K, I thought that it was witched stands, like lemonade stands. But then in 1, 2, and 3, grade (as kids are forgetful) We reviewed all the words and what they meant.
To Jen above who objects to the flag, the flag is the symbol of america that requires no reading or other special skills. Where the flag flies, our values go as well. Also, it's right there "to the Republic for which it stands." The pledge is wonderful thing when explained properly.
Forgot to mention…my daughter works at a Waldorf-Charter School in LA and she told me the Kindergarteners have a 45 minute recess! Is that amazing? Maybe your school can get charter status…???? There is much more freedom in the classroom….Just a thought.
Tricia
CAFETRIX.COM
Just 2 cents on 'Rainbow Connection' LOVE this song. Always have. My husband and I danced to this song at our wedding. It is the song that I sang to my kids to calm them down when they were babies. It still has a calming effect on them.
I like the idea of the pledge, but also of other 'works' (songs, poems, prayers, etc) that speak to us as individuals and as members of a community.
It could be cool to learn (and potentially recite) other works as a student body. As a community the students could learn what is important to some of their classmates and what speaks to them.
..oh and just to let you know our PA system does play music a few times during the year. During our Halloween parade a mix cd of "monster mash", "flying purple people eater", Addams Family etc" gets blared through the whole school.
We also get to hear snippets of the Muppets' Christmas cd the week before Christmas break. Nothing like walking into the building in the morning to Miss Piggy yelling "5 golden rings".
Needless to say my school isn't very diverse so people aren't worried about the holiday music offending people that don't celebrate these holidays. I was actually very taken aback my first year when Santa Claus visited classrooms giving out presents for the teachers to add to classroom indoor recess bins. (that tradition is going strong even though we now have a handful of students of various religions)
Anonymous person who replied to me, whoever you are:
While I still do stand for the pledge (I'm a freshman, by the way) half the time I mumble through it, and I often (intentionally) skip the words "under God"
I just thought I should elaborate on that last comment, and I didn't think to do so until about ten seconds after I posted it.
Like the anonymous person, I am an atheist who is offended by the fact that our national pledge contains the words "under God".
Freedom of religion, eh? From the way this nation acts, you wouldn't know it.
Anyhow, I'm off to eat some babies because apparently that's what all of us heathen non-Christians are supposed to do.
*Sigh*
Okay, I swear that I will not post this comment until I am absolutely, positively, 100% sure that I have said everything that I am going to say.
Like many of the above readers, I have to agree that we should not try to force religion upon impressionable kids. Let them decide for themselves; don't make them feel as though they are being forced to convert to Christianity. I live in Texas, in the Bible Belt, and it's hard enough to be an atheist as it is (I keep it secret to all but my most trusted friends.) It's offensive to me that students such as myself are essentially forced to say something that we do not believe in. (And just a few years back, when I was in middle school, they had to make it worse by adding the words "under God" into the Texas pledge too, so that it now read: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, one state, UNDER GOD, one and indivisible"! Do these people have no shame?) It's one thing to have a religion (Don't get the idea that I'm anti-Christian, because I'm not), but it's another thing entirely to be a fanatic who forces it on everybody else.
Additionally, I think that trying to instill a patriotic fervor in people is bad for them – it will make it harder to work with people from the outside world. As a kid, some of the insanely patriotic things people do begins to appall me. I'm not saying it's bad to say "I like living in America". I'm saying that it is bad to say something like "Americans are the supreme race," is. And that is the kind of thing that I have seen many people – politicians especially – say. (Especially Republicans, but let's not go into that right now. I'm not in the mood for a flame war.)
Also, to the anonymous person from the UK, I would just like to say that many schools do not sing the anthem, only say the pledge.
I think I've finally said everything that I've wanted to say.
Mrs. Q, it seems that the discussion has turned into one about the pledge, but I wanted to offer my insight into your question about the nutritional value of the garlic bread. I am a dietetics student and have been studying food science this quarter. We spent a great deal of time talking about different flours and, surprisingly, enriched flour is actually a BETTER source of several B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and folate to be exact) than whole grain flour is because they are "added back" in higher amounts at the end of processing. Enrichment was originally put into place because it was determined that those were specific vitamins that Americans were deficient in.
That being said, I always choose whole grain bread (and would recommend it to my patients) because it is less processed and contains more fiber. It would be great if the schools could start to make this switch too.
I love the Muppets and the Rainbow conection song,too!! And I was born in 1983,lol.
On the plegde, My daughter says it everyday at school and we live in Maine. I think people forget what our country was born on, religion and God! I think we as a country have/are becoming too "PC". What is so wrong about the pledge having God mentioned in it?! (retoracal)And impressional children need to be teached good morals and have a strong faith, to be able to overcome all the stuff that kids are bombared with nowadays. Why does everyone blame the "Christains", thats not the only religion!The news wants us to see the "religious freaks" and turn away from people that have a faith.
I don't go to church but I love God. My life is far from perfect and I struggle,too. We need to remember what build our country and get back to our roots. And make our country great once again.
I love your blog! I had bad chicken parm today too,lol.
I read that some of you say that schools shouldn't make children say "under God" because they don't know they have a choise.
Well thats what their parents are for, to teach their own children what religion, values and morals you as a family have. And when your
child(ren)start school its the parents right to let their children know how they stand and if they want their children to say the pledge. When I was in school the most you had to do was stand.
The pledge was recited in my school every morning of every years, grades K-12. It was then followed by a moment of silence and morning announcements. In elementary school, I think I recited it every morning without thought. In middle school and high school, the whole ritual became a few extra minutes to do homework or read or whatever I wanted to do, and I only stood up and recited the pledge when I felt like it. The teachers didn't care. I did feel that people who wanted to say the pledge and do the moment of silence should be respected and be given the quiet to do so. I can't remember seeing anyone ever use the moment of silence to pray or do anything introspective.
Never once do I ever remember a teacher asking us what the pledge meant. In fact, I don't remember discussing it at all, even the history of it. Teachers said the pledge but otherwise did nothing with it. For a long time I thought "for which it stands" was a reference to witches.
By the way, I absolutely hate onions. If I'd been given that chicken parm in elementary school, not only would I have not eaten it but I would have felt nauseated the rest of the day.
playing devils advocate here (and sorry Mrs. Q for adding flame to the fire of the "under God" discussion) but…. do those that are so against "under God" in the pledge, use American currency that says "In God We Trust"? Yes I am purposely being annoying, but I am also truly curious why I've never heard anyone complain about that.
I don't mind saying the pledge what I don't like is that now they must say a pledge to the state flag. I see that as pushing it to try and force them to pledge to the state flag. The moment of silence is what I find hard to try and deal with. The class that I have doesn't understand that the whole point of the announcements is to inform everyone including the teachers of what is going on. We have some that have tried to read books while we are saying the pledge. It is quite distracting to try and deal with losing 7 or 8 minutes everyday to announcements but they have built a cushion into the schedule to make up for it.
The lunch looks good minus the onions. I was thinking that maybe it was a bit of parm. Even at 25 I'm totally freaked out by big ole onions like that in my food, I can't imagine being in school and looking at that.
Yes, I have a problem with "under god" being on currency and I think God would have a problem with it too.
Give Caesar what is due Caesar. In other words, keep God off of something as banal and filthy as money.
Jesus would want no part of that.