don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Quick quiz, Mr. and Mrs. Patriot Person about to celebrate our wonderful Independence Day holiday: Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner (henceforth SSB) and in what year did it become the national anthem?

Francis Scott Key wrote it in 1814 during the Battle of Baltimore (two years into the War of 1812 against Great Britain) while on a truce ship a few miles from Fort Mc Henry. Congress did not make his little poem into our national anthem until 1931.

Yes, the SSB was composed as a poem by Mr. Key, a poem in four parts. Almost nobody knows the second, third or fourth stanzas of the poem. Do you? I didn't think so.

The SSB is, for all practical purposes, just the first stanza of Mr. Key's poem, for the other three verses are never played and basically unknown. All four verses commemorate the fact that the American flag was still flying over the fort when Mr. Key got up in the morning after a fierce shelling that lasted through the night.

The poem was initially titled, "Defense of Fort Mc Henry." When some time later the poem was put to music, the tune selected was from a song called, "To Anacreon in Heaven." Curiously, the composer of that song is thought to be John Stafford Smith, a Brit. A bit of delicious irony, that, unless of course it was done deliberately to spite the English.

Here are the three verses you don't know. I have a few suggested wellness-based reforms for the one stanza you do know, more or less. I'll offer a few reform suggestions in a moment and, if you are of such a mind, I invite you to consider suggesting a few, as well. First, read and whince if you must at the war-like, god-talk besotted three parts that nobody knows, thank goodness.

On the shore dimly seen thro' 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 on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, 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 wash'd 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.

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 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!

Compared with all that drivel, the basic one-stanza anthem seems almost sensible and calm, reasonable and suitably secular. But, of course, it is not, and thus I offer the following suggestions for a more peaceful anthem, one that suggests we are a friendly nation of thoughtful folks who mean no harm to others, who try to do their part for a better world and who value liberty and justice for all. That kind of thing. 

Here is my recommended ever-so-slightly reformed version of the first part of our hallowed SSB. I hope you like it, even if you still won't be able to sing it, very well -- unless of course you sing in an opera company or otherwise are gifted with a wondrous vocal range talent that is highly trained and, for purposes of singing the SSB, have practiced, practiced, practiced.

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, that dazzle and delight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the roses red glare, the tulips blooming in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Hey, please don't be picky or quarrelsome -- roses glare in their own pretty way, and tulips certainly bloom in air. Enough of rockets and bombs -- don't we get enough of that with Iraq, Afghanistan and all the other images of mayhem from a seemingly endless stream of battles since the one Francis Scott Key wrote a poem to commemorate? Cut me a little slack here, OK?

Wherever possible, I left the good, the familiar, the calm and harmless imagery alone, since most of us don't know all the words anyway, the better to keep the few some recall, once in a while. What I have done is replace the scary stuff ("the perilous fight") and those tiresome war symbols that ought not be celebrated by mentally healthy people ("the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air").

So, with the bicentennial of the SSB a mere six years away, maybe it's time to start thinking about a few modest, sensible reforms to the hoary old anthem. Times have changed a lot since 1814 -- these or perhaps even more inventive, creative and otherwise appropriate lyrics can evolve in order that we all more positively celebrate our freedoms. It's good that Old Glory was still there way back at a time when we still were struggling to work things out with the Brits, it's wonderful that the US prevailed in that battle and that a peace treaty was signed (the war, by the way, is considered a tie) and that we have got along famously with England ever since, but a little tweaking is in order for that first stanza.

If you agree, and are feeling poetic, patriotic and/or particular about words to sing concerning the virtues of the homeland, feel free to suggest a few reforms of your own. Or, if you prefer perilous fights, rockets and exploding bombs, well, feel free to suggest hands off the bangled banner. 

But at least let's resolve to continue ignoring those other three stanzas of the SSB. Yike.

Be well. Look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of mental health. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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