Kingdoms collide

I have been reading Daniel lately. A wonderful reminder of how the christian's resident alien-ship is lived out. With Jesus came the Kingdom of God, and his followers are now living in an in between time of two opposing kingdoms. Everyday we, as followers of Christ are placed in a similar situation as Daniel. We are being exposed to the teachings of this world which go against the principles of the Kingdom that Christ taught us. We are consistently being faced with similar questions as Daniel, such as how to stay pure in this foreign country. For Daniel as his friends, their answer in how to keep their identity as a people set apart was to eat veggies and drink water. I am wondering what it is for us today. In what ways can we send a message to the world (to america?) that while will be live among you, we will never be part of you. Some, including myself, have taken the outward sign of not pledging our allegiance to the flag and the rulers that it stands for. However, in my reading of Daniel, I am wondering if merely outward symbols somehow miss the point. Yesterday I was reminded of how fanfare can blind people from the point. If you have to stand up and shout about the new ___________ you now have, most likely it is merely for show and not a heart felt conviction. While I am not condoning going back to pledging allegiance to a foreign kingdom, I am wanting to explore how and where one draws the line in living in a foreign land. Do we announce it with great fanfare, with loud and stubborn conviction? Or do we embody the spirit of the mustard seed which was one of Christ's examples of what this new Kingdom looks like? If we do lean toward the more quite, humble approach, what practical examples of creating our own identity can we, should we live out?