ON THE TOWN:Oh, say, did you see that picture?

The picture in the New York Times appeared two days ago. In it, five artists were being recognized at the Kennedy Center for their contributions to the arts.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Steven Spielberg, Dolly Parton, Zubin Mehta and Smokey Robinson. Standing on Robinson’s left were First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne.

The photo is cropped, but all of these people appear to be standing up in a front-row box in the loge section. I’m guessing that it is a presidential box, as the seal of the president of the United States is hanging in front of Bush.

Why the president didn’t rate floor seats is beyond me, but that’s not why I am telling you about the photograph.

Of the nine people in this photograph, eight of them are holding their right hands over their hearts. Spielberg, Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Bush and Lynne Cheney all appear to be singing.

It is ironic to note that Parton is not singing.

The point of all this is that these folks were singing the national anthem. All but two, Mehta and Webber, have their hearts covered with their right hands. Mehta is standing there not with a bored or defiant look, but an arrogant one.

Why Mehta chose not to participate in any way is something we may never know. But just like the kids at Orange Coast College who thought that not saying the entire Pledge of Allegiance was a good way to get out of having to say the words, “under God,” Mehta was free to do as he pleased. Even standing was voluntary.

I’m not sure what Mehta’s beef is. I know that he and his wife were involved in some type of lawsuit a few years ago in which a lot of personal dirty laundry was aired, but beyond that I can’t understand why he would not want to sing the praises of a country that has been very good to him.

Perhaps he was sending a signal to the president a few seats down that, although he fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — sorry, I mean — since he accepted Rumsfeld’s resignation, a lot more has to be done to resolve the Iraq quagmire.

Webber is the picture of stoicism. One cannot tell whether he is bored, arrogant or unaware of the protocol.

Mehta was born in Mumbai, India, in 1936. Webber was born in London in 1948, three years after the end of World War II and a few years after the American war effort made England safe from German occupation.

The other seven were born in the U.S.

So, what we appear to have is seven Americans performing a small patriotic gesture and two artists who have spent considerable time in America declining the same action. Perhaps they just consider the United States a place to make a lot of money.

That’s the beauty of America. Our liberties do not distinguish between who was born here and who was not. Regardless of one’s status in the country, one can choose to support the country through these small acts, or one can choose to sit it out.

What the OCC students who wanted to end the reciting of the pledge forgot was that with these actions one does not need a hearing. No committee has to be formed to determine right or wrong or good or bad. All one has to do is shut up while the rest of us carry on with what we believe is proper.

That point, for me, was the reason I could not give any support to the anti-pledge students beyond stating it was their right to protest peacefully. Once they decided to start mandating a change in behavior that has been a part of this country’s soul for decades, they lost me.

So, next time, I hope the anti-pledgers here, there and everywhere understand that it’s not about them and bending to their will. In the same way that they do not want the words “under God” spoken during the pledge, many, if not most of us, choose to say them.