For All
By Bella Reichert, 14, Pennsylvania
I pledge allegiance…
Allegiance?
To what?
…to the flag……of the United States of America.
United? Since when?
Because the last time I checked,
we’d split ourselves into sides,
into states,
into neighborhoods,
into “us” and “them.”
…and to the Republic for which it stands.
Stands?
Does it?
Or are we still trying to figure out
what it’s supposed to stand for?
…One nation…
One?
Tell me where.
…under God…
I thought my faith was my choice.
Isn’t that what freedom means?
…indivisible…
Bull.
We’re divided by politics.
By religion.
By race.
By sexuality.
By who gets to belong
without having to prove they deserve to.
So much for
*indivisible.*
…with liberty and justice for all.
All?
Last time I checked, people were still fighting for the liberty and the justice we keep saying everyone already has.
Maybe that’s the problem,
not the Pledge itself,
but the fact that we are taught to say it
before we are taught to question it.
We stand.
We repeat.
We move on.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until the words become routine,
until questioning them feels strange,
until “because that’s just what we do”
becomes enough of an answer.
And maybe that’s how it starts—
not with someone telling you
what to believe,
but with teaching you
not to question what you’re told.
I used to stand here
and not think about any of it.
Now, when I say the Pledge,
I can’t help but wonder:
Are these words actually true?
Do they apply to me?
Do they apply to everyone?
I love my country.
And maybe loving it
means I should question it.
Because questioning isn’t disrespect.
It’s how we notice
when the words we repeat
no longer match the world around us.
So when I say,
“I pledge allegiance…”
I don’t just want to repeat it.
I want to understand it.
I want to question it.
And I want to know
if the country I’m pledging to
is actually living up
to the words I’m saying.
I’m a young female in the United States and the older I get the more I realize all the corruption and lies that our country is built on. I’ve always wanted to do something about it because I realized how much is messed up. But there was nothing I could do until I realized I could write poetry. At first it was just little rants. And then I realized: “Wait: This is poetry!” And from there, I started writing how I felt in a poetic way.
TikTok: @bella.reichert0
Photo by Isabella Fischer
