I’ve spent a lot of time in elementary school classrooms in the last month. Which means, more than once, I’ve put my hand over my heart, stared at the American flag, and pledged my allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” It’s very different to pledge my allegiance as an adult than it was as a child—I know what I’m saying now, and I know just how often my country has fallen short of being indivisible, or of providing liberty and justice for all.

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