Happy 4th of July! I attended one of the most awesome concerts last night Thanks to LinkedUp Church in Atlanta, GA. Tye Tribbit gave an energetic and inspiring performance. Today I’m relaxing but before the festivities I want to wish you a very Happy holiday and share so holiday information with you. Enjoy!
The U.S. Constitution
Do you know what it says? I admit that I kind of casually know, but not really. I mean I’ve kind of taken a lot of our laws for granted trusting the process but I realize now that with freedom comes responsibility so I’m going to read it for myself! Read More
Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty. — Samuel Adams
The National Anthem
We hear this before games and at an occasional event but it never dawned on me that we never hear the entire poem put to music! In this video, Jennifer Hudson sings the National Anthem with power and style. Below is more information about the National Anthem. Click Here or Click the Image
The Star Spangled Banner
In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the tune of (John Stafford Smith’s song) The Anacreontic Song, modified somewhat, and retitled The Star Spangled Banner. Congress proclaimed The Star Spangled Banner the U.S. National Anthem in 1931.
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave
On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists 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: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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 wash’d out their foul footsteps’ 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.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. — Malcolm X
My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! — Thomas Jefferson
