Sunday, July 03, 2005
Oh, Say, Can You See?
Although our government has shown itself to have flaws in recent years, I would like to point out that America is still a free country. We have freedoms that other countries do not have, and instead of moaning the blues over how our government is treating us, (or not treating us), let's just, for this one Independence Day, focus on the freedoms that are inherently American.In America:
-It is legal for women to drive.
-We are allowed to kiss in public.
-We still have the right to free speech. (Most countries don't have this valuable right.)
-We can divorce our spouses if we don't see eye to eye.
-Sex outside of marriage is not punishable by death. (Many countries kill fornicators and adulterers. I still do not advocate sex outside of marriage, but it IS legal!)
-Military service is still a choice unless in the case of war. (In some countries it is mandatory for males to "join up" for a certain amount of time.)
-We can choose our careers according to our likes and dislikes. In many countries, the economy forces people to take what is available and "like it".
-We have an economy that allows us to have (In the "average" family) two vehicles, a computer, various TVs and electronic equipment, etc. In many countries a car is a symbol of wealth. (Even an old junker that runs.) And in SOME countries, a donkey is still a symbol of affluence.
-Women can show their hair and faces.
-Women, also, do not have to ask their husband's permission to travel, get a job, or divorce.
-We have convenience stores, convenience foods, and convenient relationships, drive up restaurants, drive up banking, and drive up pharmacies. We even have drive up liquor stores.
-Our mail is not censored.
-Our magazines are not censored.
-We started Walmart and McDonald's!
Where else in the world can you go, when, if something breaks, you can simply go to town and buy another one just like it? Where else can you tell someone how much you hate the government, (wouldn't it be nice if the people revolted), and not fear that you will be "taken" in the night? Where else can you be in the world in poverty and still be seen by other countries as having "wealth"? I am proud to be American, even though I know how the world sees us at this time. I don't like everything that we do, just as I don't like everything other countries and governments do, but I believe in what America stands for. Our history is one of a search for religious freedom and independence from tyranny. It's too bad that some of Liberty's own children have turned their faces to the wall. Unfortunately, often, the ones that gripe the most about America's faults are the ones who benefit the most from America's riches.
I'll say it again. I'm proud to be an American. America is the land of Milk and honey; (well, in my case, it is the land of milk and Mr. Coffee.) I wouldn't give up my nationality. I might give up some of my modes of thinking, my habits and way of life, but I was born an American, and I sure missed Her when I was away.
The Star Spangled Banner
Oh, 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 thro' 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 on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, 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 wash'd 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 free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 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!
Francis Scott Key
1814
