I Can See For Miles

Some readers complain when I put up posts well in advance of the time officially listed, but it's usually because I'll be gone a day or two and like to have something new up. In any case, if it's not yet Thursday, you shouldn't be reading this. Don't worry, it's a perennial so it won't be dated.

Let's talk about the national anthem. It's an embarrassment. It's an old drinking song that's not only hard to sing, but such a rotten melody that it's hardly worth singing. So many other nations have more stirring tunes.

Then there's the subject--the flag. I got nothing against our flag (though it's a rare day when I refer to it as a star-spangled banner), but I'd rather sing about the beauty of our country, or the people in it, or the liberty we all enjoy.

Then there's another problem I thought of when my mind was wandering during an excruciating a cappella version. We only sing the first verse--which is fine with me, we don't need to sit through the other three. But this means we end on a question mark. We end the song asking ourselves if the flag is still waving. Our anthem offers no closure.

What we need to do, after singing the final line, is to answer "yes, it does!" And then play ball.