...to say the 'I'

Back in middle school, I was on the "executive board" of the student senate three years in a row. One of the responsibilities of the board (one representative from each grade, fifth through eighth) was delivering the morning announcements over the loudspeaker. Each week we rotated segments, one of which was leading the school in the Pledge of Allegiance. Though we had all been reciting the pledge’s familiar cadence since kindergarten, it was not entirely unusual for someone especially tired or distracted to inadvertently skip a phrase, saying, for example, "…and to the republic, one nation…" Firm in my atheist beliefs even at that time, I schemed sometime in the seventh grade to "accidentally" omit the phrase "under God" when my turn came around, wishing just once to declare my patriotism without the religious aspect, which had no meaning for me.