When did we stop singing this love song to our country?
It was so subtle; did it just sort of disappear with many of the other patriotic traditions that our country stood for? How many of us still remember this song, reminding us of the price paid by our fathers--the hopes and dreams of our ancestors, as they struggled in filthy disease-ridden holds of ships bringing them to a new land of promise and freedom for all? Writing about Mother Cabrini and the reason she came to our country, we became aware of the struggle, the crosses our families bore to give us a land of promise. Our grandparents never shared their pains. They were just happy to be Americans
I can still see my father holding his hand over his heart, as he pledged allegiance to the flag and to the country it represented. He was so proud to be an American; his blue eyes filled with tears as his rich tenor voice rang out, singing the National Anthem. He did not take this country, he did not take the flag, for granted; he loved it all. During the Second World War, he died every day, waiting for his oldest son to come home from war, but never cursed the war that could have taken his beloved child from him. His son was fighting to keep this country free!
We ask how many remember My Country tis of thee; better yet, how many remember the words to our National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner? Has this anthem, which is supposed to be a song of praise and devotion to our country, been reduced to merely a signal that a baseball game is about to begin? Listen to the echo of voices, American voices, united for the last two hundred years--no longer Jew or Gentile, a people with a heritage and culture of their own, a melting pot no longer divided by barriers.
