Anthem

I never loved the National Anthem. I cannot sing it. But, I always respected it. I respected what it stood for. And, I knew, with certainty, that it was a part of my world.

I am not a big baseball fan either. But, it would seem very strange to me if suddenly, there were no more New York Yankees. They are a part of my world as well.

We all have worlds, made up of cultural artifacts, personal history, new ideas, and new experiences. Without thought, we rely on those worlds as the grounding for our lives. Together, our shared experiences bind us in what we call culture. Regardless of our race or national origin, we share a pool of those common experiences, and we enjoy a silent comeraderie that never needs to be addressed directly.

We do not expect those foundations of our lives to be uprooted, unless we, ourselves, uproot them on our own. Outside forces do not have the authority to take those roots away from us. They do not have the authority to ask us to accept changes that are so fundamental to our lives.

Now we are being asked to accept one of those changes. No, not asked. The change is being made, and in a free society, they are permitted to be made. But, not at the expense of our foundational worlds.

We are going to say, "Yes." We have always said, "Yes." We said, "Yes" when we were told to select 1 for English. We said, "Yes" when we had to find English on the outside of a package in order to determine what was inside. We said, "Yes" when we had to search for and locate the English instructions in a user guide. We said, "Yes" when we walked into a store and read signs in two languages.

We do not have to say, "Yes." "No" is just as easy. It is just a bit scarier, and because of that, it suddenly becomes much harder. But it isn't harder. What might happen if we said, "No?" A powerful, beautiful, emancipating, heart-opening sensation of relief, self-worth, and REAL freedom. The freedom to say, "No."

We can select a new National Anthem. I propose America The Beautiful. Because it is. And we have forgotten that it is. We are assaulted with rhetoric about how horrendous we are, and this happens as we are immersed in saying "Yes."

On May 1, we can refuse to buy a product that has more than one language on its label. I know, we might not find any. So, OK we will not buy any. We can go outside and sing American The Beautiful as loud as we can. We can ignore anyone who marches down the street, vowing to bring our world to a halt. Yes, ignore. The media circus that is taking place over this is beyond reprehensible. And we can hold their leaders and organizers responsible for threats against the United States.

But we won't. We will just say "Yes."