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Anthems
by jonku
A day or so ago Canada celebrated the beginning of our 140th year as a
confederation, and commemorated our history of 139 years.
After singing
the national anthem, Oh Canada, I
reflected on its meaning. It is a song to the country, beginning "Oh Canada, our
home and native land."
The refrain, "Oh Canada, we stand on guard for
thee" feels appropriate and is a promise to the nation. "True patriot love, in
all thy sons command" asks the country to inspire its male citizens to
patriotism. Here I wonder if the 1908 poet, Robert Stanley Weir, values men over
women, or if it simply foreshadows the First World War when so many young
Canadians died in Europe.
Sung in the vernacular, people change the line
"Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee," to "Stand on guard, Oh Canada, we stand
on guard for thee," which adds a warning ("Stand on guard") to the promise to
defend. It’s also a nice alliteration of the phrase. They also sing "true
patriot love, at our sons command," instead of "… in all thy sons
command."
If you care to hear it, I found a link to a YouTube video clip
of Oh Canada.
I
sincerely wonder what the rest of the Moon off Alabama thinks about their own,
and the whole notion of national anthems.
Lyrics below:
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy
sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True
North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand
on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O
Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for
thee.
On a similar note, As far as anthems, celebration, patriotism goes…
The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro
Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and abolitionist, was asked to give a Fourth of July speech while slavery still existed. His fiery talk is what this section is about: People within America recognizing that the American promises ring hollow.
Snip:
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
Wow. I hesitate to apply to current events words crafted to describe such horrible times, but.. but that passage really struck me.
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
My agnostic prayer is that enough of us will do our best in following what is true and good, to make sure that this statement does not become an apt description of present-day America. I fear however, it already has.
Finally, Two words: John Rawls.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 4 2006 2:29 utc | 18
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