Second-grader Wyatt Mansell gave his pledge to the country Wednesday and thought more profoundly of the words he recited this time than he had in years past.

"I was thinking about the words that the kindergartners don't know," he said.

At 1 p.m., Wyatt, together with the other students of North Elementary School, Jackson Middle School and thousands of other children across the nation, took part in the annual Pledge Across America. The pledge is a 10-year tradition that has, in years past, swept up thousands of schools and George W. and Laura Bush in its patriotic spirit.

Though little known for years, the popularity of the event swelled in the renewed climate of patriotism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

The annual pledge drew North Elementary principal David Gross' attention and that of countless others when it came into the media spotlight with President Bush's participation a week after the attacks.

"We try to encourage the kids to have a patriotic mindset on good years, too, not just when we're at war," Gross said.

The specter of war sobered the thoughts of even the elementary students, some of whom have family members in the armed forces and in Iraq.

Second-grader Rebecca Brown has a cousin in Iraq. While she recited the pledge, she thought about her country as one big family, Rebecca said.

Fourth-grader Andy Ward said he was "thinking about the people in the war now," a sentiment echoed by many in his class.

Other children said they considered such things as their spirituality, plights of those less fortunate and the reason for violence in the world.

"I was wondering why they would want to try to kill us," said Katlyn Leimer, a fourth-grader. "They were, like, mad at us because we have freedom."

rgoodier@semissourian.com

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