MainSheet — Campus News — October 26, 1989

CCCC Student Promotes Global Pledge to Combat World’s Problems
by Jason Dabkowski

Jerry Schmeer Jr. takes time out of every day to reflect on the “Rockingchair Theory.” He asks himself, “Did I justify my existence on this planet? Have I accomplished something to change people’s lives?” Schmeer is currently working to make an impact on the world with his “Global Pledge of Allegiance.”

Schmeer’s pledge aims to bring all people of all nations together to save the environment. The pledge is simply:

“I pledge my allegiance to the planet Earth, to make it a better, healthier and safer world for all.”

The idea for a global pledge came from the recent presidential campaign issue of Dukakis’s 1977 veto of a mandatory Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in public schools.

Schmeer feels that in the shadow of Chernobyl, acid rain, and ozone depletion, “We need to make a more global approach in everything we do.”

As he wrote in a letter to the editor that appeared in the MainSheet last spring, “If we, the great nation that we are, want to take the leadership that we have always shown in the past, let’s offer the world a practical solution. Let’s offer the world a new pledge of allegiance — a pledge that we can be proud of, and that the whole world can share.”

After receiving a positive response for his idea, Schmeer set out to promote it. He has written to congressmen, newspapers, and many organizations in an effort to publicize the pledge.

His efforts have touched close to home as Schmeer received dozens of letters from a fifth-grade class at Osterville Elementary School. The children’s teacher, Susan Peters had read Schmeer’s proposal to the class from the Cape Cod Times. Touched by their concern, Schmeer visited the class and presented them with a framed photograph of the Earth as it appears from space. “There are no lines there,” he says.

“I really like your idea for the pledge for the whole world. And it is short and simple and you can understand all of the words. Maybe sometime there will be a pledge to the world and people will thank you,” wrote then-fifth-grader, Meg Sullivan.

Schmeer feels that if school children were pledging to save the environment, then Congress could take a lesson from it. “Following the wisdom of children, let Congress adopt this new Pledge. Wouldn’t you feel better knowing that before they voted on a new trillion-dollar weapons system that day, they too had made this pledge?”

Schmeer is currently working to get the pledge featured on the CNN children’s news program, Newsroom. Schmeer is also looking for support from fellow college students, “We need to set the example. We need to do it now. We need all of your help.”

Born in London, raised in New York, and now a West Yarmouth resident, Schmeer graduated from CCCC last spring but is still enrolled as a part time student. In the early ’80’s, he pursued a career in acting in Hawaii. He landed several roles including a major part as “a bad guy” opposite Tom Selleck in “Magnum P.I.” After five years, he came back to the Cape and opened his own theater workshop in Hyannis.