Junior Taylor Kaddouri recently started a petition with about 500 student signatures that she brought to an administrator’s attention that requested that students say the Pledge of Allegiance every day, rather than just weekly like the school had previously done. The petition was approved.

Kaddouri’s reasoning, at least when she asked me to sign the petition, which I did, was that students should say the Pledge everyday to respect soldiers that fight so hard for our country every day. I completely agree, which is why I signed it.

I thoroughly respect her efforts for implementing this system of saying the Pledge every day because our troops should be admired and recognized.

While the first few weeks of reciting our nation’s Pledge went smoothly and without much trouble, another student has brought up a petition to reverse it and is gathering signatures to stop the Pledge from being said every day.

I respect this person’s wish to make a change,  but I don’t think this is a positive change.

Kaddouri had good intentions when she was making her petition and if someone doesn’t want to say the pledge every day, he or she doesn’t have to.

If someone has a reason that they cannot say the Pledge, that’s fine, they don’t need to say it. I just don’t understand why one person not wanting to say the Pledge everyday should cause those that want to, to not be able to recite it. For some, like Kaddouri, it is seen as a patriotic duty so I don’t think that someone should try to restrict that.

Voicing your opinion is a good thing. However, people should always consider whether they are speaking out about what they are passionate about or they are doing so just because they want to stir up the pot.

In this case, I don’t think that someone is extremely passionate about stopping the Pledge being said every day but they saw an opportunity to direct attention toward themselves and went for it.

I think that this also brings negativity toward Kaddouri, because her noble action was brought on with a lot of controversy, and taking 45 seconds to say the Pledge of Allegience just shouldn’t be a source of controversy. Her action should be celebrated, not  criticized, because it took courage, and her petitioning idea should be put to rest, because it worked and now we are all saying the Pledge.

Being passionate about something and wanting to make a change is a great thing, and people shouldn’t try to restrict that. However, I think that this person’s decisions to stop the Pledge from being said stemmed off of Kaddouri’s petition, and is more a rebellious act than a passionate one.