Traditions unite us, and Bremerton's council should restore the Pledge of Allegiance

As someone who believes that traditions are important in our society I have been disappointed since 2022, when the Bremerton City Council voted 5 to 2 to eliminate the routine recital of the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the long-standing tradition of having an invocation prior to each meeting.

For 16 years I stood before each meeting of the Bellevue City Council with my fellow council members and put my hand over my heart and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. I stand when I attend a University of Washington football game and the band marches onto the field and spreads that big American flag and we all sing the Star Spangled Banner. I hope they never stop that wonderful tradition, and I hope the Bremerton city leaders take another look at their decision, because it does matter.

I fully realize we live in different times from when I grew up in the 1960s. Today the words of the Pledge of Allegiance or the Star Spangle Banner do not mean the same thing to all people, many who come from different back grounds, different religions or different countries. Nevertheless, we are all Americans, and our traditions honor those who came before us. When I stand for the raising of the flag I am standing to honor those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the wars we've fought, both in our own country and around the world, to maintain a free and democratic society. The United States of America is not without our challenges, but we remain the greatest democracy in the history of the world. We have people to thank for that privilege, and I do that by standing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of our National Anthem.

Traditions are part of our national culture. We celebrate annually national holidays such as Labor Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Fourth of July, and of course Thanksgiving and Christmas. We give workers those days off so they can celebrate with their families. We have traditions such as in Bremerton, where each May we take our chairs downtown to watch the Armed Forces Parade or in late summer take the family to the waterfront for the Blackberry Festival.

We also celebrate our family traditions. When I was a young boy each summer our family would rent a cabin and go to the beach, and on our birthdays my mother would bake us our favorite cake. On Valentine's Day I always give my wife a dozen red roses, and for over 50 years I have mailed Christmas cards to my list of friends. I cannot imagine life without traditions, they fill our soul and remind us of our history and give us the opportunity to celebrate.

I believe Bremerton is the only city in Kitsap County that does not honor this long tradition of saying the Pledge of Alligiance. What is surprising about that to me is that Bremerton is a military community, and has been a central hub to the Navy for more than 100 years. We are the home to one of the largest naval bases in the world, where over 15,000 people come to work each day and where over 5,000 sailors live on our aircraft carriers when they are in port. Our flag is raised and lowered each day at the shipyard and taps is played in the evening. It's a significant tradition to the community.

My hope is that someday the city council will start a new tradition, and find a way to honor the men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice so we might live in this great democracy.

Cary Bozeman is a Port of Bremerton commissioner and former mayor of Bremerton.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Traditions unite us, and Bremerton's council should restore the pledge