Once I was at a dinner in New York, I was sitting in 'East', on stage, and suddenly I hear a melody and everyone is standing still in awe and swearing - 'The American Anthem'. I did not get up, it is written "he will not kneel and he will not bow down", Mordechai did not get up and did not move. But when someone came and set me up, he said, "You can't sit down: you have to stand up" - a royal honor. Later they also sang 'Hatikva', no.
Another story:
When I was a little kid in kindergarten, they would swear allegiance to the American flag. We had to stand with our hands on our hearts and say, 'I swear allegiance to the American flag.' I refused. Not for religious reasons, not for reasons of Judaism, I told them I would decide who I was loyal to, I could not swear allegiance without understanding what but just because someone told me to say I was loyal. So I was thrown out of kindergarten on the grounds of anti-patriotism to the American nation.
Eli Horowitz
From "This Purim Toll"
