Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness ... #2

When I was in high school, there were always those kids who thought it was cool for them to NOT know the school song. I rolled my eyes at them because I never understood their thinking. I was proud of where I was attending school. I was grateful that I was able to receive an education. I had fun in high school, and I wanted everyone to know, so I learned the school song. It's not even that hard to learn, you hear it at every football game, and basketball game, and school assembly, etc. You almost have to consciously TRY not to learn it.

I feel the same way about our National Anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. To me the song signifies that we are free, and that we are independent, that we are happy and that we love our country. Again, you almost have to consciously choose not to learn it, because it's played many place, and at the beginning of every sporting event. Why would someone do that? It's disrespectful to those who fought so hard to free us from the British rule, and it's disrespectful to every person who has ever fought to keep our country free. We should all be proud to live here, proud of our heritage and proud to know our National Anthem.

For those of you who may not know, there are actually 4 verses to the National Anthem. I've posted them here for you to read. Now, I don't think it's necessary to learn the entire song, since we only sing the first verse most of the time, but it's nice to review the other ones once in a while. Also, if you're one of those people out there who doesn't know at least the first verse by heart, maybe now is a good time to learn it.

(FYI -- the 4th verse is my personal favorite.)

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


Now, just for fun...

I bought a funny headband for me to wear on the 4th of July. For some reason, I like silly, almost tacky things like that. Hmmm, I wonder where I got my silliness from? My mom danced and made up funny songs for us in the morning while we were getting ready for school, and my dad came home one day dressed like a Christmas Tree, complete with a battery-powered string of lights wrapped around him. :) Well anyway, Jason decided to put on the headband, and he's probably going to hate me, but I had to post this picture.