A few weeks ago, on Memorial Day Sunday, we sang the first three verses of "America the Beautiful." Looking further into it, I was surprised to discover that Katherine Lee Bates composed eight verses to this song. Verse seven particularly came back to me on this Independence Day Sunday:
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
How sad that we must still deal with the selfish gain that stains our government. On the other hand, of course, Winston Churchill pointed out that democracy is a terrible form of government except for all the others. Or something to that affect.
But this verse also calls on us to remember those men and women who gave their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor so that we could have the nation in which we now live.
A Facebook friend also pointed out that only two people have ever offered their lives for me: the soldier/sailor/pilot/marine who gave his/her life; and Jesus Christ. I am thankful today for both.
No comments:
Post a Comment