July 4th 2024…By The Dawn’s Early Light

   I hadn’t planned on writing this, but then couldn’t ignore the day, one I’ve always loved.

   I can still see our American Flag proudly waving from our upstairs porch.

  With all their faults, my parents were very patriotic…my father, a WWII veteran, quietly leading the charge.

  We’d gather at my Auntie Ida’s house for a picnic. After barbecued chicken on soggy paper plates and my mother’s iconic potato salad, we’d assemble in the TV room to watch Yankee Doodle Dandy, all waiting for Jimmy Cagney to tap dance down the White House steps. 

   I remember seeing the original Star Spangled Banner that inspired our National Anthem, being restored on a gigantic loom at the Smithsonian, while school kids sang it slightly off-key.   

 Say, can you see
By the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight’s last gleaming…

  I also think of the Founders risking their lives for the Independence we now take for granted.

  What would they say as it’s about to be challenged since it seems the country will now be governed under new laws…our sacred Constitution headed for the shredder.

   How now according to the Supreme Court, a man can be above the law, honored as the dictator he will surely become if he regains office.

   My heart weeps for our present President whose life I fear will end, either from stress or by a sniper’s bullet. If for no other reason why I wish he’d step down, allowing a younger version of himself, someone honest with integrity, to take the helm.

When Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same July 4th, fifty years to the day of our glorious Independence, it seemed as if divine providence was showing its hand.

 Where is it now when we most need it?

 When we need more than ever, for God to bless America?

  I ask you?

  …by the dawn’s early light.  

 SB