by Debbie Robus

Created on: June 02, 2009   Last Updated: July 06, 2010

Sometimes it takes a crisis to make us sit up, take notice, and really begin to care.  

My mother says that she rocked me as a baby during the Cuban missile crisis and wondered what was happening to the world. She was only eighteen.  

One of my early images is of John-John Kennedy saluting as the burial caisson paraded past him, carrying the body of his father, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963.  

I was six years old ... the same age as John-John's sister, Caroline... and I think he was about three.  

Obviously someone prompted the little boy to salute...and certainly he had no clue about the significance of this gesture-or even the real impact of his father's assassination. And even now, with improved technology and a whole host of media outlets to inform us of every sneeze around the world, I am not certain that many young Americans fully grasp the concept of patriotism-or care.  

I was a child during the Vietnam War-a mere teenager when Saigon fell. I knew that even young men from my own small community died in that war, and I feared for the boys in our high school who registered for the draft. I worried as their numbers got closer to being called. And yes, we studied American History and World History... and I am sure some of our teachers tried their best to impress upon us how much was sacrificed in order for us to enjoy the privileges of our life as Americans.  

In Scouts we learned the proper care and display methods for a flag, and I remember taking my turn raising and lowering the flag on the pole outside our elementary school office. I knew the flag was special and to be respected, but I honestly didn't grasp how and why this was so important.  

Later, when I became a kindergarten teacher, one of the first things I taught my class-and nearly the first thing we did every morning-was to place our hands over our hearts and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  

I honestly tried to explain to the children what the words meant and why we recited them...and why we sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" afterward.  

But I don't think even I fully understood the significance of these rituals at that point, so how could they?  

Clearly, I didn't fully grasp the importance of the American flag, the national anthem, Veteran's Day and wearing a red poppy on my lapel, and how privileged we were to experience freedom in America until the first Gulf War.  

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