Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

If you sit on a hill and watch the darkness fade as the sun comes over the horizon, casting just enough light, you can see a beautiful countryside at the break of dawn.

So quiet that you can only hear the soft blowing wind as it gently rustles the trees, or the sound of water as it flows through the stream. In a moment like this, one can truly appreciate the beauty and greatness of the country we live in.

But freedom always comes with a price, the greatest price. Children play in fields that once were soaked in blood, on a day long ago when a sunrise brought only more fighting, and the wind carried the sounds of battle across our land.

G.K Chesterton said "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die."

Everyone wants to live in a peaceful nation, but ironically violence is most always the means to peace. There is nothing more selfless than giving up your own life so that others may enjoy it. Sacrificing your hopes and dreams and crushing the hearts of loved ones left behind. Peace is like the calm after the storm, but the storm can be unforgivable at times. I find it haunting to stand in front of a wall with thousands of names carved in stone, names of Americans who died, many of whom were forgotten long ago, and whose stories were never told.

At the battle of Fort McHenry Joseph Hopper Nicholson, of the U.S. Volunteers, wrote to a friend: "September 14, 1814, 9 A.M. -- At this time our morning gun was fired, the flag hoisted, Yankee Doodle played, and we all appeared in full view of a formidable and mortified enemy, who calculated upon our surrender in 20 minutes after the commencement of the action." It was also at this time that a lawyer from Georgetown by the name of Francis Scott Key, witnessed the battle of Fort McHenry and wrote a poem called "Defense of Fort McKenry." It would later become our National Anthem. One of my favorite verses from the poem says:

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 refuse 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.

While many Americans spend time with their families in various activities over the Memorial Day weekend, I would encourage everyone to take just a moment this Monday to observe and reflect on the sacrifice that has been made by so many Americans.

"This nation will remain the Land of the Free only so long as it is the Home of the Brave."

-Elmer Davis