Patriotism

Patriotism takes lots of forms. This morning I was upstairs writing on facebook and Dean's son turned on the tv downstairs to watch the soccer game. All of a sudden I felt my back straightening and my head lifting. I was responding bodily to a stirring playing of the National Anthem.

Now, I am not even fond of the anthem. I think we should use America the Beautiful for instance. At least a song that is not quite so tied to war and battles and militarism. And we don't. For now, the Star Spangled Banner is the anthem and the one that I have grown up singing, standing to and watching the flag rise into all sorts of breezes - celebrations, sports events, funerals, the whole range of human emotions.

And so when I hear it, I respond - respond to the way our country was founded to be, was meant to be, was hoped to be. I respond to our best self - the ethos of a country free and honest and welcoming. I know. I know. That vision may never be reached. We may never have made it in the first place. Still, the vision was there and is there as all of us struggle to find it. In the meantime, we can sing with backs straight and eyes bright of "the land of the free and the home of the brave." One day . . . one day . . . ~ with blessings