My Brasilian grandmother always said she loved the national anthem. She would cry in fact.
My parents became citizens in 1975. My father moved us to the U.S. (back and forth to/from the U.K.) to make a way where it was difficult in England. (Why the number of moves is another story.) My mother moved here with her mother as a kid.
I don’t want to give a mushy and overly effusive lecture on Independence Day–but it’s such an important day. The Star Spangled Banner is not the military cadence or French-style revolutionary anthem. It has a freshness even to this day. It makes immigrants cry. If only it did for all our compatriots. Gratitude.
Yes, the U.S. has to return to its roots: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; e pluribus unum; and In God We Trust. I don’t want to preach, but those are really available, really possible, and truly trustworthy.
Peace and grace this 4th.