O Say, Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave?

O Say, Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave?

This morning I was walking up onto campus, it was a beautiful day. Clear blue sky, brisk fall weather, bright sun shining over the mountain. I saw sticking up over one of the campus buildings the United States Flag waving with majestic brilliance. It was a beautiful scene. The words and music of our National Anthem came into my mind, "Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?" Can you see it? The flag that was flying last night, which we saw in the last dim light of the evening? Is it still there? The flag which represents the hope of this people? And then I remembered the words near the end of the verse, "O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave?" Tell me! Can you see it?

I think of today's world, of the rising division between good and evil, moral and immoral. The future of this nation, and the impact each individual citizen's moral integrity has on the outcome. And I ask, "O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave?" I believe this upcoming Presidential Election is among the most important elections in the history of this Nation. It represents a crossroads, a choice our nation has to go one of two radically different directions, with radically different consequences. Will we or will we not continue to be a light upon a hill, shining forth to all nations? Will we continue to be the hope of the world, a symbol of truth and freedom? Do we remember our duty like our fathers did during World War II or our grandfathers did during the Revolution? Or instead will we become passive and apathetic, falling selfishly into ourselves, loving only comfort and vain pleasures, forgetting our blessings, neglecting our responsibility, and then without realizing it, loosing what we hold dear?

O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O're the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

Does it? Answer me now! Does it?