What I stand for

At major sporting events these days, they ask fans to rise for the singing of "God Bless America." The phase-in of this song happened so fast, I didn't have a chance to protest.

The song gained momentum as a must-stand song after Congress sang it on the Capitol steps on the night of Sept. 11, 2001. No one denies that was a powerful moment.

Still, I don't happen to like the song. And anyway, I don't see why I have to stand up for this song. My policy is to stand for one song per nation. Unless we are officially demoting the "Star-Spangled Banner," I feel weird rising for the singing of a second song. I mean, are we just going to start standing for any old song? ("Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and remove your caps for the singing of "This Land Is Your Land.")

But mostly, I oppose the way it happened. There was no public debate on this topic. We just woke up one day and stadiums around the country were asking us to rise for the song.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well done! I agree that we don't need more songs to stand to (plus we already stand for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame").

But I do have to defend the honor of "This Land Is Your Land." If we need to stand for another song, "This Land Is Your Land" (not "My Land," by the way) would be an improvement over "God Bless America." It was written by Woody Guthrie as a response to the Irving Berlin tune, which he though was unrealistic.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/This_Land_is_Your_Land
November 02, 2005
Anonymous said…
Well done! I agree that we don't need more songs to stand to (plus we already stand for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame").

But I do have to defend the honor of "This Land Is Your Land." If we need to stand for another song, "This Land Is Your Land" would be an improvement over "God Bless America." It was written by Woody Guthrie as a response to the Irving Berlin tune, which he though was unrealistic.

See this entry
November 02, 2005
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