As I stand in shock with the rest of the nation, I reflect on that pledge. The same pledge that I used to obliviously spout off in elementary school. Now I am older, and after Tuesday, I am a new American. True, I was born in America. I watched fireworks on the Fourth of July and sang along to Star-Spangled Banner at baseball games. But I didn't know what it meant to be an American.

I know now. Being an American means having the strength to endure and pull through as a nation. It means not only having freedom and liberty, but also a desire to fight and protect that liberty. It means a williness to sacrifice for your children.

And that's what the Pledge of Allegiance is to me now. It is a symbol of all the bravery and heroism that took place Tuesday in New York in the midst of its saddest hour. All the rescue workers working non-stop and risking their lives -- they made me proud to be an American. The lines that formed around the blood banks, made me proud to be an American. The way that the passengers of Flight 93 managed to somehow band together and crash their plane before it reached its target, made me proud to be an American. The way our normally racially/politically divided country grouped together in this time of crisis made me proud to be an American.

It is the patriotism that is instilled in your heart, the patriotism you never knew you had. It is the spirit that can not be broken. It was Faulkner who said, "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance." It is that spirit that has taught me what it is to be an American.

We need to reignite the passion behind the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm not saying shout it out in the streets or recite in front of a mirror. What I am saying is we need to realize in our hearts what it means to us to be an American. The heroic efforts of everyone and reaction of the nation shows that we have it in us.

Tuesday no one was African American or Asian American -- we were all one in the same, standing together in horror, pain and disgust. But it is together that we must conquer this, and "all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time" (Bush).

And now today I know what it means to be an American. To stand by others and say that this act of terrorism will not be tolerated. I now pledge my allegiance to the flag which flies on our nation's capital. And to the spirit, for which it stands.... the same spirit that cannot be broken. I pledge alliegance to the flag and the freedom it represents. The freedom of "one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

Everyone is displaying the flag and American colors. I ask you to reflect on what the pledge means to you.

--Allison Horton

The author is a junior at Memphis University. The daughter of Ben Horton of Jonesboro, she grew up here and in Memphis. --Editor