The Pledge of Allegiance

Flag on PorchThe morning after Paul Upham’s presentation The Pledge of Allegiance, I awoke with a John Denver song playing in my mind: Country roads take me home, to the place I belong. Paul, an engaging speaker, shared with us his family’s involvement with the creation of our country’s pledge of allegiance, interesting historical information seldom heard in history classes. The audience interacted throughout the lecture. When his talk of our nation concluded, audience participation grew. Easygoing, Paul was happy to answer all questions. Paul Upham is a professor at Marist College and all of his students are quite fortunate to hear him speak, as were we. He has lived in this community for 45 years and spoke fondly of Pawling and how it has changed over time. I think that is why the song found its way to me: filled with patriotism, connected to the people in this town, all these feelings surfaced and I felt very good. Pawling is home. A good place to be.