Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?

   Today is 4th of July, Independence Day. Lots of people will be celebrating the freedoms given to us by our founding fathers. In our history millions of men and women have given their lives so that, throughout generations, we can still enjoy the freedoms of this great nation. Parades, cookouts, flag waving and many renditions of the Star Spangling Banner, our national anthem will be the order of the day.

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 thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's 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?

   When Francis Scott Key wrote this song, using the tune of an old drinking song, he never thought of how much it would mean to our country.

 Of the 8 lines which compose our National anthem I'll say that the most well known and quoted is "Land of the free and the home of the brave". In fact this phrase has turned in to a kind of nickname for our country. The funny thing is... This is just not what Francis Scott Key intended. If you look at the lyrics again this statement was never intended it to be an affirmation of our country but a question: "Tell me, Does the flag still wave over the land of the free? Over the home of the brave?

   We like to think that our country IS these things but the reality is that this should never be an affirmation, but always a question. Every day, especially a day like today, we should recall the meaning of what Francis Scott Key intended and ask, are we still brave? Are we still free?  Is this the land which represent these things? If it is...What are we doing to conserve it like this? If it is not...What are we doing about it? What kind of sacrifice are we prepared to make in order to reach this ideal?

  Land of the free, home of the brave, should  always be a goal, an ideal, and not what it has turned into, an affirmation of  a reality far away of what our founding fathers intended as a legacy for generations to come.

Happy 4th of July!

"Viva Cristo Rey!!"