It seems Will is a rather bright boy. Rather than mindlessly following the tradition of rotely standing and repeating the pledge of allegiance, Will actually thought about those words and decided he could not say them in good conscience.
Unfortunately his substitute teacher thought he was trying to be a bad ass by refusing to stand and repeat the pledge. After she badgered him about it for several days, Will had enough and had to tell her "With all due respect, you can jump off a bridge". This landed him in the principal's office.
Why, you may be wondering, was Will opposed to repeating the pledge of allegiance? Because the final phrase of it reads "...with liberty and justice for all". It seems Will and his family have gay and lesbian friends for whom liberty and justice only go so far. So to heighten awareness of his gay and lesbian friends' 2nd class status, he decided not to stand and repeat the pledge.
For the full story, click here. To watch a video of Will and his dad interviewed on CNN, click here. Imagine that: a bright, 10-year old boy who recognized the disconnect between the promises "for all" contained in the pledge of allegiance and the way GLBT people are actually treated in the US.
Wouldn't it be nice if our elected officials had the logic of this 10-year old boy?
Crush du Jour: Chace Utley
11 comments:
If only everyone had the common sense of a 10 year old kid.
Yes! I saw this story on CNN yesterday. John King was interviewing the boy. Sure, he doesn't have the grace of an adult, but the confidence in his answers were very inspiring. If he can stand up for Equality, then why can't the rest of us!
Hey, thanks for sharing. Reminds me of 10th grade at high school when my friends and I refused to take the pledge and actually got away with never having to. We thought there was a separation of church and state, so what's with the "under God" stuff? And "liberty and justice for all" -- what "all"?
Best,
Michael
Smart kid! I love that a 10 year old gets it yet our bigoted asshole of a governor here in RI doesn't. I'd like to put the governors rights to a vote.
That kid is a hero.
Yup, I'm with you Mark, this kid is a hero, not just for the LGBT community, but for any put-upon group out there.
Good Will Phillips!~
This boy has more balls than the entire republican Party and its various hangers-on put together.
Thanks for Utley. I watched him during the world series. It made watching Philly at bat more fun!
YEAH, we gots the hottest baseball players! chase, cole, jayson...WOOF!
of course, all that hotness did NOT win us another world series title (sigh)...but wait til next year!
"and a little child shall lead them" - *hearts* will.
That kid is a hero to me.
I like feel good stories. There seem to be so few lately.
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