Heather Nelson was dropping off her son Royce at school when she observed that her son did not enter the educational facility right away after dropping off.
As he entered the premise, her kindergartener son came to a complete stop, she wasn’t sure at first. She didn’t understand why her son was waiting a few seconds before entering the building because he always enjoyed going to school. When it finally dawned on her, she took a picture.
Nelson took the picture that has been viewed millions of times in the past week. Her son recited the pledge of allegiance, and then prayed, giving thanks to God for the day he was given. Royce remained in place as his students gathered around him until he had finished expressing his gratitude and appreciation.
“I couldn’t really tell what he was doing and I was saying ‘Royce..go..go’ as kids walked around him, well he didn’t budge and I thought what is this child doing?” Nelson wrote on Facebook.
A campus police officer approached Royce and asked him what he was doing, and she was blown away.
“I couldn’t believe that he acknowledged that that was a moment of, you know, you need to stop do the pledge and he just did, he just ignored all the kids around him and kept doing it. and it was awesome,” said Officer Cibby Moore.
“Thank you God. Thank you for giving me a wonderful day,” Royce added to the pledge in prayer.
Despite no one asking or expecting him to, instead of skipping it. He was only a young child who arrived late for kindergarten, while Royce was being dropped off late that day, the school’s public address system was playing the Pledge of Allegiance. He chose to participate in the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America.
“Thank you God. Thank you for giving me a wonderful day,” Royce added to the pledge in prayer.
Nelson was delighted to see her boy taking a moment to pray before going into his kindergarten class, as the Texas mom is aware that schools do not have prayer in class since she raised her kid to be a religious person.
Nelson explained, “Since they do not have prayer in schools, he says a little prayer silently, and that’s exactly what he was doing.”
How often do we forget to be grateful for our freedom and ability to live through another day? Royce’s simple actions serve as a wonderful reminder to us all. It may take many more moments like this to make a real difference, but we are so thankful that young Royce set this wonderful example.
Sources: AWM, Deseret, Womansday
