I Can Dream
I know I’m crazy. No diagnosis needed.
A few days ago I was present for a concert at a local park district. The first song offered by the community chorus was our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. I’ve joined in singing the song hundreds of times since I was taught the tune in elementary school. I know the story behind the song. Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics as he watched Fort McHenry under bombardment by the Brits, the super power of the day. Our flag remained flying over the fort after a night of shell fire. Now we are the super power.
After World war II we have prosecuted a series of wars, one after the other that we elected to fight. Wars where no actual physical threat existed to our country. To my mind these wars were optional, unnecessary. That leaves the question unanswered—of the dead and those maimed for life, and the spiritual corruption to our society consequent upon spending blood and treasure to wreck another country. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. What is the means of atonement for what we have done?
After standing, listening mute to our old battle hymn, our pean to war, to ourselves, the very next song performed by the chorus was Country Roads by John Denver. Off course it’s too late in the day to change our national anthem. As I said, I’m crazy. Can you imagine a country where the existential self-understanding of a people focused upon a love for their land, it’s beauty, their attachment to it? I can dream.
One thought on “I Can Dream”
You are not the first to have the thought expressed in your last paragraph, Jerry. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful. “America the Beautiful,” a song everybody knows, celebrates the loveliness of our national geography in its entirety even better than “Take Me Home, County Roads,” but don’t hold your breath to have either replace our more martial anthem.