flag, Patriotism, songs in school,

I asked my son, who is a 9 yr old 4th grader, if he knew the song 'My Country 'tis of Thee'. No. America the Beautiful?........No. He said "Dad, we barely say the Pledge of Allegiance!"
I asked him why and he said "...because we forget."
I can remember by the third grade at least 2 concerts where we performed these and other patriotic songs. I uh, have no video proof........sorry.

I love my Country.
The NPR/PBS liberal would believe that:
I must hate every minority in the world. I don't
I must be a "war-monger". I'm not
I must love oil billionaires. I'm broke!
I must be a "gun toting Jesus freak. I own a 12g single shot I got when I was about 17 and I haven't seen it or touched it for about 25 yrs. I believe in God, but I'm not a freak. You can believe what you want.

I love my Country.
Is my neck a little red? Well, one tries to keep the toilet seats off one's front lawn.
Am I a "mouth breather"? When my nose is clogged....yeah.
Neither of these makes me as stupid as I'm portrayed in the liberal media for saying that I love my Country.
I LOVE MY COUNTRY AND I'M NOT EMBARRASSED BY IT!
This is the greatest Country in the world!
Why is that bad? I should feel guilty for this? What did I really have to do with it anyway?

My Father and Mother took my older brothers and I down to main street every time there was a parade. My Father would bring our big flagpole (6 footer), then he would buy us each a small American flag to wave during the parade. We were instructed to never let it droop past horizontal but to hold it upright and proud. We would hold it up and wave it as the bands and soldiers and other groups marched by. Then, as all small children whose attention span was short or something else distracted us, the flag would inevitably begin to droop and sometimes point down toward the ground. And even though he was very gentle about it and was never angry, we would get embarrassed if we didn't correct it on our own before he would gently reach down and nudge it back to the upright position.
I love my Country.