I’ve posted this before. Today it might be profitably read in conjunction with Squeaky’s post.
In the conflict resistless, each toil they endured,
’Till their foes fled dismayed from the war’s desolation:
And pale beamed the Crescent, its splendor obscured
By the light of the Star Spangled flag of our nation.
Where each radiant star gleamed a meteor of war,
And the turbaned heads bowed to its terrible glare,
Now, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave,
And form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.–Francis Scott Key, from the poem that became The Star-Spangled Banner.
A sense of history is important, especially when contemplating one’s national anthem.