If you are an American, you enjoy a wide variety of rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Rights, however, come with unwritten responsibilities. You have the right to free speech, and you have the responsibility to speak in ways that improve society. You have the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, and you have the responsibility to serve as a juror when one of your peers is on trial. You have the right to own a gun, and you have the responsibility to store and use that gun safely. Being an American comes with the responsibility to work for the good of the country and for the good of all other Americans, whoever and wherever they are.

This is a pledge of unity and solidarity. There are three hundred twenty million Americans. You are pledging your allegiance to every single one of them. Anyone who also says it, is pledging their allegiance to you. This doesn’t mean you have to do anything for anybody, and you don’t get to order anyone around. But today, our country is badly divided. People are struggling. Fear and mistrust are everywhere. We need reminders that everyone here is part of our country, and that “the good of the country” can only be measured by the health, happiness, and well being of the people. This is a pledge to do what you can to make things better.

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Today we have more people, and all of their ideas and cultures, mixing and remixing in more ways than ever before. People need to be open to other beliefs, even if that’s uncomfortable, in order to get along. This doesn’t mean acceptance or approval of every belief; some are genuinely wrong. Some beliefs are wrong to the point that they cause a lot of damage and need to be actively challenged. You have a responsibility to try and understand why different groups hold the beliefs they do. That can only happen, if you first understand what nuanced beliefs groups actually (not stereotypically) hold. That can only happen with honest talk. In this time of ubiquitous communication, that’s actually quite a challenge.

American exceptionalism is real. We remain the only country whose citizens have walked on the moon. We created the precursor to the internet which has connected the whole planet. The first airplane was flown in North Carolina. The vaccine for polio was developed in America and then shared with the whole world. That spirit of innovation and drive is good and is something to aspire to. But ideals are never easy. If they were, they wouldn’t be worth doing. It’s also not much of a victory if some people don’t get to enjoy the results. The best examples of American greatness have made life better for everyone, not just a few.

There’s no sugarcoating it; liberty and justice are not available to all. There has never been a time when “all” Americans have enjoyed those two ideals. It can’t even be said: “This person has liberty and this one doesn’t.” or “This person has justice and this one doesn’t.” Liberty and justice both come in degrees. They mesh and intertwine in complicated ways. While it may be impossible to ever achieve a condition of “perfect liberty” or “perfect justice” for “everybody”, we all can still strive toward that goal. Look around. Find where liberty is being abridged, and where Americans are being treated with injustice. Call it out. Get involved in fixing it. Find others and work together. There is no shortage of worthy causes to pursue.