Joe Henderson: Is all this noise really America? Actually, it is

Between school days and ballgames, I figure I have stood for the National Anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance at least several thousand times.

High school football and basketball games. College games. Pro games. Multiple Super Bowl and World Series games.

Oh say, can you see?

At games where a Canadian team was involved, I have also stood for the rendering of “Oh Canada” — a way cool anthem, by the way.

And the pledge? Well, as a second-grader at Pleasant Street Elementary School, I probably didn’t quite grasp what it meant to pledge allegiance every morning to the flag of the United States of America, but the teacher told us to do it and no one wanted to buck the system.  

As we all grew older though, it became legitimate to say hey, wait a minute, what does this pledge and honor stuff really mean?

It goes far beyond unquestioned obedience to a country that sometimes doesn’t offer the same in return.

It means being able to express yourself without fear of being dragged off and thrown in jail. It’s being able to publicly call out people in authority.

I’m not talking about NFL players who are upset that they risk a fine by taking a knee during the red glare of the rockets. They work for a private employer who can set the rules, even draconian ones.

I’m talking about the African-American who speaks out about the cop car following him at every turn. Or the gay person got tired of made to feel unwanted and uninvited and took to the streets.

Or those who speak out for the immigrant whose paperwork is in order, but still has to explain to his kids why the bully passing them on the street yelled for them to go home.

Or those who argue in favor of the disabled person who hears his government say it is cutting his benefits to save money while passing tax cuts to make billionaires richer.

A lot of people wonder how in the hell did we get so mean and distrustful.

Maybe it’s a clash of values, styles, religions, or maybe it’s just good old-fashioned fear. Maybe it’s always been there and the 2016 election just popped the cork.

Donald Trump won the White House with a campaign of division and hatred, and that has pretty much continued through the first 18 months of his administration.

I hoped that wouldn’t carry over to Florida elections this year, but it has.

University of Florida alum Adam Putnam seemingly can’t order eggs without taking a swipe at “liberal elites” — even when he has a good idea like expanded vocational education.

It is OK if a student would prefer to study for a specific trade but going to college doesn’t make you an elitist.

By the way, on his 2017 financial disclosure form, Putnam’s net worth was listed at $8.7 million.

Sounds pretty elite to me.

None of this is specific to one party.

Leslie Wimes, who supports Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, recently used Twitter to refer to rival Gwen Graham as a “skank.” She doubled down on that with a column after the ensuing controversy and, whoa … hit the brakes folks.

Of course, that won’t happen.

You know why?

Because this, too, is America and such talk — no matter where it comes from — is protected by that pesky First Amendment.

This is what we get for living in the Land of the Free.

Instead of high-sounding prose, we sometimes get skanks and slurs, elitist slams, and racist rants.

We get a president who used Twitter on Memorial Day, where we especially honor those who paid the highest cost, to pat himself on the back, noting, “Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.”

Ridiculous, but expected.

Is that what we stand to honor and pledge allegiance?

Or don’t stand and don’t pledge?

And what so many fought to protect?

Yeah. Actually, it is.