I must preclude this post by saying the first four paragraphs, and the last paragraphs are my own.  The "Star Spangled Banner" and the supporting paragraphs in between are not to my credit.  I received that content in an email from a great friend of mine.  If you would like that email, please feel free to leave your email address in your comments here, or email me at mattfaw@gmail.com.  Thanks.

The playing of the Star Spangled Banner has long been a tradition at our American sporting events.  It is one of the few songs that bonds all Americans who cherish our freedom here in this great land.  We look forward to standing in unison, before our major sporting events, and singing along to those words that represent our freedoms and our culture.  It is one of the few times where Americans come together in mass, no matter what political party we are associated with, and agree in unison to sing the song that represents our great nation.

In recent times, we have been confronted with issues in this country, regarding "God" being used in our schools and in our public venues.  As a young boy growing up in North Carolina, we would stand in our classroom and recite the Pledge of Allegiance "one nation, under God" with no hesitation.  Songs such as "God Bless America" were sang at gatherings.  No one complained, and if anyone didn't want to join in the "festivities", they weren't persecuted.  Prayers were offered before high school games by a local minister.  No one kicked you out of the stadium if you decided not to join in the prayer, and you lived to see another day.  Well, it appears as though those days are over.

Our country is being picked apart by special interest groups who have taken their individualistic views and desires straight to the top.  It is becoming a nation where our Constitution is being twisted and turned into nothing more than a "I have rites" document.  Don't get me wrong, this country was set up in such a way that the intentions were to do away with religious persecution.  Our country is now a melting pot for all of the world's major religions.  However, it has also become a melting pot for the minorities.  And I'm not talking about race.  I'm talking about ideals and lifestyles.  Unfortunately, we are headed in a direction that is seeing the minority rule, as opposed to the majority.  Our legal system has been abused in such a way, that it makes it almost impossible for the majority to rule in many cases. 

This leads me to the idea behind my post.  Our National Anthem actually has four verses to it.  Although all we hear is the first verse, which doesn't mention God, God is mentioned in other verses.  When Francis Scott Key wrote these great words to this great song, he was watching on as the British Navy was bombarding Fort McHenry.  In the distance, Francis Scott Key could see the American Flag flying over the fort.  His song describes the bombardment, and the subsequent results.  Here are the words to this great song....

"  Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
   What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
   Whose broad stripes 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 thro' 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?

(Ramparts, in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a fort.) The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer:

   On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep
   Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
   What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
   As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
   Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
   In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
   Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
   O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

"The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure.  In the third stanza I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise? During World War I when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung.  However, I know it, so here it is:

   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 footstep's pollution.
   No refuge 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.

(The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling):

   Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
   Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
   Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven - rescued land
   Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
   Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
   And this be our motto --"In God is our trust."
   And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
   O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears. Pay attention to the words.  And don't let them ever take it away ... not even one word of it.

And oh yeah, if you don't want to be around when it is played, show up a few minutes late to the game, or wear your headphones.  And no, the majority should not be the one's wearing the headphones...after all, this country is set up to be ruled  by the majority...right?