On the ferry going over to Lummi Island to visit my friend Lorraine Dukes, I got this brilliant idea to take photographs of anything I saw that day having to do with patriotism, or a display of our colors, or the 4th of July. I thought it would be fun for this blog. Entertaining. Light. Ever so clever, so original, don’t you think?
So, here are a few … nothing clever, nothing original …
Then in keeping with the celebration, many friends sent patriotic photographs, cartoons and stories. One new friend, Clarke, even sent a video of the Cactus Cuties singing the national anthem at a football game in Houston … really cute. Watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el26vmB36VA&feature=related My eyes welled with tears; I’m such a soft touch!
So, here are a few … nothing clever, nothing original …
Then in keeping with the celebration, many friends sent patriotic photographs, cartoons and stories. One new friend, Clarke, even sent a video of the Cactus Cuties singing the national anthem at a football game in Houston … really cute. Watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el26vmB36VA&feature=related My eyes welled with tears; I’m such a soft touch!
I realized--again--how fortunate we all are here in the US of A! I mean, we’re not in Iran where fanatic clerics have forbidden public protest over vote outcome or shut down YouTube transmissions and FB and other social networking sites online, so that the citizenry of that country can’t voice their opinions, or hear what’s going on. (Although we do have our own domestic and world news filtering to address and deal with here.)
The United States is still a place where if one is willing to work for it, one can achieve the American Dream. (Although there is so much
red tape and rules and regulations and fees and taxation and paperwork to be observed and filled out and recorded, and hoops to jump through in order to grab the golden ring and big box stores and mega corporations and agricultural conglomerates are pushing out the mom-n-pop enterprises.)
We applaud and support our brave men and women who serve in the Armed Forces to protect our way of life and our rights. (Although the question of support might be posed regarding the treatment, or lack thereof, for some of those brave ones who came back suffering from post traumatic shock and told there is nothing that can be done for them because there’s nothing physically wrong with them; or those who came back after Vietnam and were spit on and reviled because it was an unpopular war, even though they were over there risking death for their country.)
Hmmm. Maybe I should stop.
The United States is still a place where if one is willing to work for it, one can achieve the American Dream. (Although there is so much
red tape and rules and regulations and fees and taxation and paperwork to be observed and filled out and recorded, and hoops to jump through in order to grab the golden ring and big box stores and mega corporations and agricultural conglomerates are pushing out the mom-n-pop enterprises.)We applaud and support our brave men and women who serve in the Armed Forces to protect our way of life and our rights. (Although the question of support might be posed regarding the treatment, or lack thereof, for some of those brave ones who came back suffering from post traumatic shock and told there is nothing that can be done for them because there’s nothing physically wrong with them; or those who came back after Vietnam and were spit on and reviled because it was an unpopular war, even though they were over there risking death for their country.)
Hmmm. Maybe I should stop.
Maybe we all should stop taking our freedoms for granted. Maybe we should realize how fortunate we are to have and enjoy what we have and strive to make it better. WORK to preserve our freedom and freedom of choice and freedom of speech and embrace the responsibility to perpetuate our freedoms and not let them slip away or be taken away.
I have children and grandchildren. So do you! What will be left of the American Dream for them?
Get out there and vote! Speak up when you feel something is wrong! Make a difference! Freedom and Independence don’t just happen and keep on keepin’ on! It has to be protected and nurtured!
Again, not a clever idea, not an original concept ... Celebrate and enjoy the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Giving proof through the night...
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?
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!
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 washed 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!
Oh! 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!
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?
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!
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 washed 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!
Oh! 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!
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