1992 |
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Dear _________,The other night when the board was discussing using the Pledge of Allegience and singing the National Anthem as part of our regular meeting-opening activities, I voiced the opinion that such a decision should be at the discretion of the Program VP, definitely not formally endorsed by the board on behalf of the chapter. I still believe that, but I've been agonizing about my own personal feelings over such things, and I think that writing them down for you may help clarify them in my own mind. I hadn't really thought much about this concept before, so it's probably just as well that none of us was asked at the board meeting how we felt about it personally. Since we weren't, I kept my mouth shut. But I've been turning this stuff over in my head all week. The thoughts are kind of complex, and I'm not at all sure that I care to share them with the whole group, but I need to share them with you.Patriotism and religion are strong medicine. They have a lot in common. They've been responsible for some of the most dramatic social and cultural advances that our species has produced, and they've been the direct cause of our bloodiest wars and persecutions. We should thank whatever God we worship that there are truly apolitical and secular pursuits available to most of us, that allow us to spend the bulk of our time interacting with our fellow humans on less risky grounds. I like to think of barbershopping as one of those safe cultural havens: a group of people and activities that offers practically no chance of getting involuntarily dragged into some kind of potentially destructive philosophical debate with my friends and acquaintances. Not that I don't occasionally do it, but I like to be able to choose the time and place to abuse myself that way.Playing with analogies has always helped me to explore basic concepts without getting bogged down in particulars, so let me try to work my way through a hypothetical situation as I explore (for both you and me) how I feel about the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and the National Anthem as regular meeting openers, instead of just "The Old Songs."Suppose we were the local chapter of a national chicken-plucking society. Suppose our members were mostly good ol' American WASPS, but the roster also included a few atheists, a couple of agnostics, and several people from other cultures, working here on green cards--members from Ukraine, Namibia, India, Laos, Syria, and maybe a few from Nepal. Or something like that. Suppose that we get along really well with each other, we all wholeheartedly support the society's goals of practicing and teaching good chicken plucking, and for nearly half a century we've opened each meeting with the society's traditional chant, "Cluck, cluck, ouch!"Suppose further that the chicken-plucking society has a code of ethics that prohibits, among other things, the introduction of political, religious, or other similar controversial [not necessarily bad, just controversial] issues into the affairs of the society. In other words, the chicken-plucking society has gone out of its way to point out that it considers itself non-political and non-religious. As in most other areas of life in America, its members can individually be patriotic and religious, to whatever extent their minds and hearts dictate, but the Chicken-Plucking Society has explicitly chosen not to be those things.How appropriate would it be for us to suddenly, in a surge of patriotic fervor, ditch the society's traditions and to substitute, as our meeting opener, a pledge of allegiance to the flag of our great nation (which, although great, does not represent the national heritage of all of our chicken-plucking members)? How appropriate would it be to offer a prayer to only one of the several Gods who are worshiped by the various members, or to sing a national anthem that's not theirs? How would that make the minority members feel? Surely each person's feelings count just as much as every other's . . . .The fact is that feelings of patriotism or worshipfulness among members of a chicken-plucking society, although possibly admirable in an altruistic sense, are utterly irrelevant to the purposes and functions of a chicken-plucking society. Injection of these things into any formal part of society affairs, besides being potentially--aw, let's admit it: surely offensive--or at least uncomfortable to the minority members present, would be in conflict with the code of ethics (as I read it, anyway).What would happen? My guess is that several
people would long in their hearts for an opportunity to pledge allegiance to their flags,
or say a prayer to their Gods, or sing the anthem of the country of their childhood,
but they wouldn't get the chance. What should they do? Stand with the others
and exercise pure hypocrisy? Sit quietly as the others stand, and risk receiving
silent scorn or condescension? Allow their deep feelings (surely just as deep
as yours) about their own private beliefs to begin to drive a subtle wedge between
them and their fellow chicken pluckers?Sure, it's exaggerated. Sure, it overstates the issue. Sure, we have no Namibians on the roster yet, and no chickens to pluck. But my son-in-law is a Canadian citizen, and so is a guy that that I work with--who, along with one from India, I've been trying to get to come to our meetings and see what uncomplicated fun we have. And I know that there are some non-Christians in the chapter, even today.Sorry to have rambled so much, but just writing the foregoing stuff has helped me to work through how I feel about the Pledge and Anthem as formal parts of our chapter meetings: I love them both dearly (although that's nobody else's business), but I object to their use in this way. I believe in my heart that they're irrelevant and unnecessary to the business of the chapter and the Society that we represent. Their introduction won't make us more patriotic than we were before, and their absence from our meetings won't make us any less patriotic than we already are.I'm also convinced that their use in this way
is potentially offensive to a whole range of people, including some present and
future members, who joined or may some day join the Society, not out of a sense
of patriotism, but because they simply love to sing. Maybe they just love to
do their singing in a way that lets them think solely about singing during these
all-too-brief chunks of their lives every week, and in a way that relieves them,
however briefly, from the pressure to publicly avow any of their private beliefs
beyond the joy and wonder of barbershopping. And believe me, it is pressure,
no matter how much we may protest to the contrary. Standing up before a group
and telling someone not to feel social pressure if he declines to publicly honor
your God or
your country along with everyone else just doesn't work. Honest.The final thing isn't even a "position," just
an observation. There are so few things in this world that are constants, that
we come to expect things to evolve in weird ways if we even glance away for too
long. When I came back into barbershopping after being totally away from it for
27 years, I truly expected to feel pretty much like an outsider. I was actually
moved to tears when, at that first January meeting in 1988, this group of guys
I'd never met before (the Notables) began to sing "The Old Songs," right off
the bat, just like I had done it in meetings I used to attend when I was a kid.
I instantly discovered that I remembered every note and every feeling of that
song from so many years before. There I was, singing a song (and partaking of
a tradition) that hadn't evolved in some weird way, with people who therefore
had to be my brothers -- else how could they snap the past and the present together
in such a heart-twisting instant? I kind of like that song, as dippy as some
of its lyrics may be. Mainly, though, I like the part it plays in a chapter meeting,
and I like what it stands for in relation to the goals of the Society. Just wanted
you to know.Yours toward purer harmony,
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