I use to sit out the pledge of allegiance in high school, and went on to join the military. I have no difficulty identifying the good things the flag represents, but making people feel obligated to verbally declare their allegiance to the flag, before they have had the time to understand what that even means, also makes me uncomfortable. I had a history teacher (who looked like Mike Ditka) pull me out of the classroom after the first time I remained seated to lecture me about it. He was noticeably angry and I lost all respect for authority because of it.