Personal Narrative: Taco Bell Or Chipotle

I’ve always been a fan of challenging ideas. If I have opinions that are different than other people’s, I try to make my point. A lot of things I argue are insignificant, like whether Taco Bell or Chipotle is the superior chain restaurant. But not all of my challenges are meaningless. There are some that I believe in very strongly, and for, what I believe, to be for good reasons. In my third year of high school I stopped standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I expected that there would have been some backlash; I was living in a more conservative area of upstate New York, but the resistance didn’t occur immediately. I had been sitting during the Pledge, quietly, with my hands in my lap while I stared at the flag for almost 2 months before

another student in my homeroom confronted me. He had an interesting way of opposing me. One day, while everyone was reciting the Pledge, he tapped my shoulder, and yelled at me repeatedly to “Stand Up”. I was somewhat baffled at this. 7 weeks had passed from when I started sitting, I was beginning to believe that I might not see any conflict among my peers. As the Pledge ended, I turned around to see him sitting back in his seat, glaring at me. I told him that shouting at me while other students were trying to participate in the Pledge was very rude and disrespectful, he asked if I was “foreign or something”. I quickly realised that he was not going to be reasoned with. I didn’t go into my explanations of why I stopped engaging in the Pledge. As much as I wish I had argued with him, I know that there was nothing I could have said to him that would have changed his mind about whether or not I can choose to participate in the Pledge.
If I had argued with him, I would have told him how I came to the realization that participation in the Pledge was never optional. Throughout elementary and middle school reciting the Pledge was mandatory. When I tried to sit during the Pledge in fifth grade, my teacher explained to me, in front of the entire class, that I had to stand, I had no option to sit. I would have told my fellow student that I don’t like how American students are conditioned to pledge their allegiance every day to a flag, reciting a monologue which many students don't even comprehend.
In ninth grade I had stopped reciting the Pledge, I just stood silently while others said the same words, every day, in monotone. I would have told the student in my homeroom that I never liked how we all sounded like zombies so early in the morning, saying a speech which no longer holds meaning to so many people.
In fifth grade after we had learned of “separation of church and state” I stopped saying, “under God”, during the Pledge. I wanted to explain to that student how I felt the government was incredibly hypocritical, having students perform the Pledge when it so very clearly held a connection of church and state.
I never meant to offend anyone. I meant to silently protest something that I had always needed to participate in. I see how it affected others, but that doesn’t change my opinions, and I am glad I acted how I did. I stand by my actions, as I sit for the Pledge.