Tomorrow is the fourth of July, the Independence Day of United States of America so first of all my wishes to all my US vistors. I have posted the Star Spangled Banner below as a mark of respect for the great leaders who made United States of America what it is today.
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 thru 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 through 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?
On the shore, dimly seen through 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 in 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!
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 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!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it 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!
Though I can't relate to United States history very much as I do to United Kingdom (after all they colonized us for more then 100 years!) but I can relate very well to the aspirations of American people. I was brought up on a steady diet of books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Huckleburry Finn and the story of the Mayflower which gave a vision of a independent state where you can chase your dreams and then live peacefully to cherish them.
Every individual from the north pole to the south pole dreams of a very happy and blissful life for himself and his family but not many get to fulfil the dreams. The Americas was described as the 'New World' by Columbus and his countrymen and rightly so! Because it is there, where millions of people aspire to go if they want to live a life they cherish. Years ago or rather generations ago, the US Civil War taught the world the true meaning of slavery and black and white and yet as of today we find the world mired in the cesspool of ethnic classification and cleansing as the latest issue of Time magazine shows us. As the world civilisational order gets older and older we are becoming more and more intolerant as more and more nations fight it out to find/alter/add their own individuality among the league of nations. The more you read into it, the more you feel that the United Nations has become a redundant body with no real powers and a new world order is the necessity of the day.
Though the 4th of July celebrations may be slightly muted on account of the Boston Marathon Bombings, but I wish that all countries unite like the United States of America in the common aim of bringing safe and secure place to its citizens so that they can laugh, play and breathe the same air without fearing about anything. No distinctions should be there between caste, creed, gender or sexual orientation. People should be able to pursue the dream of their life with rightful earnest and live happily ever after to cherish for what they have worked so hard. Can we change? Yes We Can!
Happy Independence Day
