38 years after the signing of our Declaration of Independence, a young lawyer lay prisoner aboard a British warship watching anxiously as that independence was tested with fire. With Washington DC burning to the south, the man wondered aloud if the patriots defending Fort McHenry could last the night.
Born in the midst of the American Revolution, Francis Scott Key was keenly aware of the stakes at hand in this battle. This could end us. So it was with inexpressible joy and great relief that he cheered our flag STILL flying after a nightlong assault by the British crown.
He was inspired to pen, among other now famous verses, the following:
“O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes 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.“
This lesser known 4th stanza of our national anthem speaks deeply to me. Those men were my brothers, my free countrymen, just the same as you are my brother (or sister!), dear reader. The most beautiful and revolutionary aspect of our nation’s ethos is that ANYONE, so long as they swear to uphold and defend the Constitution, can take up the great title of “The American Citizen”.
I love adding new members to our quirky, liberty loving family. We are so aberrant, historically speaking, in our approach to governance. No king, emperor, or politburo will ever be welcome here. We the people are sovereign, and this joyful defiance flashes in the eyes of the Americans I meet at home and abroad.
This brotherhood we share is truly our nation’s crown, and it transcends petty disagreements and even vast political divides. It binds us through the fiercest drought and storm.
Or at least it did.
Brothers and sisters, Citizens all, I ask you: Has this great crown been broken? Or is it merely forgotten?
What binds us to each other in this great sprawling nation? What ethereal blood do we all share that still makes us kin? Is our foundation strong enough to weather the storm? I hope and pray that is is.
I don’t want to lose the familial root of our nation, but the division I see in America seems to be growing like a furrow cut deeper every day by dark flowing water.
So what is to be done?
Do we throw up our hands, grab our rifles, and concede that a physical fight is unavoidable? It’s crossed my mind, sure.
Do we surrender to the relentless barrage of authoritarian collectivism and sue for peace? God, may it never be.
Or do we work and toil until our strength is utterly spent to achieve the rarest and most beautiful outcome of violent division: reconciliation?
I believe that the human heart longs for reconciliation, for peace out of war. I believe that this longing is strongest among those who are bound by blood. Nobody disowns their family with a smile, but reconciliation will bring joyful tears to the stony eyes of a life-hardened man.
Brothers and sisters, fellow freemen. Stand with me now between our loved home and war’s desolation. The “power that hath made and preserved us a nation” has shed grace on us, and crowned us with brotherhood.
I don’t know how we are going to save our American family. But I’m not giving up. Don’t you give up either.