Student sits during pledge of allegiance; gets chair kicked out from beneath him

[Joods]

Which part of the pledge honors the people who died for the country exactly? It's a pledge of allegiance to the United States, it never mentions the military, veterans, war, etc. Same goes for the national anthem, which again is about the country and not the military.

Besides, this was at a school. It may be different if the pledge or anthem is said at an event honoring the troops, but if it's being said at the start of a school day, it has zero to do with anything military.

Right, it is a pledge of allegiance to this country. But it kinda flies in the face of people who sacrifice/die FOR this country when someone can't even be bothered to stand up during a pledge of allegiance to it.

Anyway, being a military wife, that's how I see it. People have the right to do what they want, but when someone doesn't stand up simply because they don't feel like it, it does hit me with a certain attitude of disrespect to those of us who are sacrificing.

Fuck the flag. It has ZERO to do with serving in any US military. I have plenty of friends who are both in the military and who have spouses in the military and unless your husband is off fighting in some war zone in another country - then what are you really sacrificing? If your husband is home every single night and isn't doing a job that actually puts his own life on the line, then he is going to a daily job and coming home like anyone else. You don't get extra sympathy from me just because he's enlisted and chooses to stay in the military. 

The vast majority of enlisted men and women do not end up with life threatening job assignments. Sure, many do - especially during war or times when we are needed overseas. However, most service men and women stay stateside in sweet jobs after the military has put them through school, for free, learning what they wanted to learn, not what the military wanted them to learn (thank your tax payers for that). After 20 years of service, they can retire as early as age 37, with full pension and benefits. Furthermore, once they retire, they can take their military education and skills out into the civilian workforce and earn even more money for another 20 or 30 years all the while still collecting full pension and benefits. How exactly is that a sacrifice? 

Wanna know who sacrifice? Those men and women who put themselves on the front lines of danger every day. ANYONE who risks dying on a daily basis due to the job that they have been hired to do. Those are the people making sacrifices. The people who are no longer with us due to the dangers of their job (whether civilian or military) have paid the ultimate price for their sacrifices. Men and women who have come back from fighting in a war, missing limbs or having psychological issues, sacrificed and they will be reminded of their sacrifice for the rest of their lives. 

The memories I have of my father involve his wheel chair, his severe speech impediment, our spending every Saturday in his room at the VA nursing home and him getting the occasional day pass so that we could take him out to see Star Trek movies or have him come to our home for holiday dinners. Those are my memories. He never talked normally and he never walked at all after I was born. Be grateful you have a loved one who comes home to you nightly.