went to my kid's concert the other day. 4-6th graders. plain nasty singing and music, as you can imagine for average youngster of that age.
the gym was full of 100-200 proud parents, the day before D-Day (especially with the 70th anniversary media blitz one would think this would also be on folks minds), the first song was introduced as "a song that needs no introduction".
from my first row seat, i immediately rose, followed shortly by my wife, when (though barely recognizable played through the beginning musicians instruments) was the first few notes of the Star Spangled Banner.
was amazed and appalled when about halfway through, my wife nudged me said "hey we are the only ones standing". even the teachers were seated.
when the song was completed, turned to the crowd with my hands in the air like "WTF"?
the worst part is the "example" set by the parents and teachers for the kids, and i looked like the weirdo.
36 U.S. Code § 301 - National anthem | LII / Legal Information Institute
whatever people's political views, opinion of how the nation is being ran, or whatever - out of respect for where we've come from and those that we've lost along the way, remember and teach that it's more than a song that starts baseball games or a 3 colored piece of cloth:
Oh, say can you see
By the dawns early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilights last gleaming?
Who's broad striped and bright stars
Through 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?
- i guess it also waves over the ignorant and disrespectful too, but it did urk me a bit.
June 14th is flag day, wave her proudly, and to coin a crosby stills nash and young song with a now different point of view "teach your children well" (and maybe a few parents too):
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
Can you hear and do you care and
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
the gym was full of 100-200 proud parents, the day before D-Day (especially with the 70th anniversary media blitz one would think this would also be on folks minds), the first song was introduced as "a song that needs no introduction".
from my first row seat, i immediately rose, followed shortly by my wife, when (though barely recognizable played through the beginning musicians instruments) was the first few notes of the Star Spangled Banner.
was amazed and appalled when about halfway through, my wife nudged me said "hey we are the only ones standing". even the teachers were seated.
when the song was completed, turned to the crowd with my hands in the air like "WTF"?
the worst part is the "example" set by the parents and teachers for the kids, and i looked like the weirdo.
36 U.S. Code § 301 - National anthem | LII / Legal Information Institute
whatever people's political views, opinion of how the nation is being ran, or whatever - out of respect for where we've come from and those that we've lost along the way, remember and teach that it's more than a song that starts baseball games or a 3 colored piece of cloth:
Oh, say can you see
By the dawns early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilights last gleaming?
Who's broad striped and bright stars
Through 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?
- i guess it also waves over the ignorant and disrespectful too, but it did urk me a bit.
June 14th is flag day, wave her proudly, and to coin a crosby stills nash and young song with a now different point of view "teach your children well" (and maybe a few parents too):
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
Can you hear and do you care and
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
