Happy Fourth of July

I do love my country. When I was in the Navy, I never saluted the flag without a tear in my eye. And I so appreciate the sacrifices that people have made to make us free.

But we are not the end-all, be-all of the world. Other people love their countries, too. Other people think their country is far superior to any other. Other people have fought and died for their freedoms, too.

I was raised in an era that believed that we were superior to everyone else and taught that in the schools to its children. We were taught that everyone wanted to come to the U.S. to live, that everyone looked to us for help, for answers, for aid. It never occurred to me that other people loved their countries the way we did.

During the Gulf War, when my husband was serving on board a ship that was not stationed in the Gulf but was nearby if needed, our church choir sang a song that has stuck with me ever since. It's sung to the tune Finlandia, a hauntingly beautiful tune. Written by Lloyd Stone, I know nothing of it except it's from a Methodist hymn book (or so I was told.)

So this is my wish for everyone today. That someday this song would be sung and meant by everyone in this country.

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

This is my song O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.