As of late, I've given a lot of thought about what it means to be an American. In the choir that I sing in,
The Sterling Singers, We are doing a concert to commemorate those who died on September 11th, 2001, and those who have died since protecting our rights as Americans. We are doing an arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner in which we sing verses 1,2, and 4. I have included the words to the poem, written by Francis Scott Key at the bombardment of Fort McHenry below:
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.
O! 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.
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!
I love the words in the last verse, and it got me thinking, What does it mean to be American, and what does this song mean to me? I'll tell you (since this is the reason that I'm writing this in the first place). To be American means, that we will always do what is right (excluding politicians since nowhere in the world do politicians do anything that is right). We are always swooping in to help those who are in need of help. We are able to worship who we believe in. We are willing to do what it takes to protect our rights as Americans, and we have brave men and women who go out into hostile territory to protect this country and all that it stands for. We are always trying to find new ways to do things and always trying to advance humanity to the next level. We are able to own our own land and protect it by any means possible. We are able to bare arms and stand guard over our wives and children, our parents and siblings.
"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!"
In what other country can people protest without retribution (usually) from their government. In what other country, do they say "Bring me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yourning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore? Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door." I may not like or appreciate illegal aliens because of the strain they put on the hard working american people, but I am a FIRM believer in people immigrating here to be free of oppression. In what other country does the banner that waves over our homes, schools, hospitals, government, buildings, cemetaries mean that WE ARE FREE.
The red stripe standing for hardiness and valor. The white stripe stands for purity and innocence. The blue signifies the color of the chief. TheEach star represents a state in the union. In a book published by the House of Representives in 1977, they write:
"The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."
Why am I writing all of this? Because I am proud to be a citizen of the greatest country in all of the world, The United States of America. I am PROUD to put my hand over my heart and Pledge my allegience, and I AM PROUD and HONORED to have men and women serve this country in our military. I support our troops whole heartedly. Anybody who doesn't feel like proud to be an American should leave this country and go to France.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS and may God watch over this great Country!
