Henriette Mantel, a Vermont-raised writer, actress and producer, is best known for playing Alice Nelson in the Brady Bunch movies and for co-writing and co-directing the Sundance documentary An Unreasonable Man.
NEWFANE-I’m sure not many of you remember the chorus of a song the Gershwin brothers wrote in 1937 — “No, no, they can’t take that away from me” — but lately I’ve been singing it a lot. Not about a love gone wrong but about our American flag, Old Glory.
Every time I see a truck drive by with the Stars and Stripes on one side and a flag of our current president — I can’t write his name — on the other, all I can do is sing that song.
Recently, a man walked past our house and asked why we have the American flag in front. My friend rushed to answer before I could get a word out: “Because her father was a World War II hero — is that enough for you?”
The tension of that guy thinking that maybe I’m not a true open-minded American because I like the flag blew my mind. Hearing my friend, who I pretty much disagree with on all politics, jump on the guy’s question exemplified what’s going on around Old Glory lately.
* * *
Growing up in Vermont, I loved the Annual Town Meeting. While so many of my friends took the free ski day at Stratton, I would go watch from the balcony and feel like I had a say in what happened in my town, even though I was too young to vote. It would always start with everyone saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
I couldn’t wait to cast my first ballot. My first presidential vote was for George McGovern.
Last year at Town Meeting, we didn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. When I asked why, the moderator said we never did.
“Huh? Was my memory failing me?” I asked my Cemetery Committee, of which I am the proud president, and they all said, “Of course we did. It stopped during Covid.” No one knew why.
I went to the Selectboard meeting to find out.
The town office is now in the grade school I attended, so I sat in the same spot where I used to sit in sixth grade. I would stare at that same ceiling for hours, studying the tin graphic designs.
My teacher used to hand out the Weekly Reader. It was my favorite part of the week. Reading that paper made me feel like it was a huge world out there and I needed to get out in it. I’d personally fix every injustice I read about.
Most of the Selectboard members thought my pitch to restore the pledge was a good idea, but there were problems. I told them it would be fine with me if citizens want to get on one knee or tell me to go pound dirt. Either would be an OK choice, but come on, I should get to say it, shouldn’t I?
The board members promised to call the Vermont League of Cities and Towns for the latest protocol.
* * *
For me, the pledge has always been about possibilities. After I moan and groan about where our country is today, I still believe that America can return to its values of integrity and freedom and justice for all. It might not happen in my lifetime, but there are glimpses of those values everywhere, even if in today’s world you have to look hard.
Between people getting on my case about my flag in the front yard and then this debate about the pledge at the Town Meeting, I remembered Bruce Springsteen saying, “The America that I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration.”
He’s right. But he always follows up the depressing truth with a call to action, challenging us to take “aggressive, peaceful action” in defending American ideals and democratic norms.
Let’s not forget the words of the late civil rights leader John Lewis, who said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
* * *
So where is your fight? Where is your hope that we can reclaim this country?
Call me Pollyanna, but I find it every time I look at a flag.
Of course, you don’t have to do a darn thing. You can just sit and complain, for all I care. But do me a favor: Next time you hear the Pledge of Allegiance, whether it be at Town Meeting or a basketball game or anywhere the story is told, look at the flag — or your boots — but please don’t give up hope in this country.
And remember when it comes to Old Glory, “No, no, they can’t take that away from me.”
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.