a 12 year old is smarter than 2/3rds of Congress

[acroyear]

What the American Flag Stands For:

Published on Wednesday, April 3, 2002 by Common Dreams
What the American Flag Stands For
by Charlotte Aldebron

The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.

School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth.

Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real meaning remains.

Charlotte Aldebron, 12, wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class. She attends Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle, Maine. Comments may be sent to her mom, Jillian Aldebron: aldebron@ainop.com

Comments

[bronxelf-ag001.livejournal.com]

did she win?

[griffinick.livejournal.com]

I'd say more than 2/3.

Very well written for a 12 year old. Better, in fact, than probably 2/3 of my students. College students.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

well, she's 16 now but none of her online writings appear since she turned 13 (though there's a picture of her with an interview, so its not a "fake".

months later (Nov 3rd, 2002), she posted this but didn't say anything about the original except that it was published.

all other references quote the signature line exactly as written (sometimes as a header rather than footer) so no help there.

[caseylane.livejournal.com]

I'm going to post a link to this in my lj if that's ok.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

link to the original

[caseylane.livejournal.com]

I did, but I gave you thanks.