Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Well said
:)

Yea I was one of the firecracker boys. Paid the price with trip to Hosp. just luckly I didn't
have fingers blown off.
Independence comes at a price and strong brave men and women, Northern Calif. still has THE STATE of Jefferson on the plate. from SAC to lower parts of OR, it may happen but not in my lifetime.

I believe the fireworks used on the 4th originated with the national anthem. The following comes from one of the many sites out there about this battle, and the origination of our national anthem. The fireworks we use today are essentially used in honor of one night during the war of 1812.

During the war of 1812, Fort McHenry was under attack by the Brits and it seemed that the Fort would surely fall. The commander of the fort, Major George Armistead, was ready to defend the fort, but he wanted a flag that would identify his position, and one whose size would be visible to the enemy from a distance. Determined to supply such a flag, a committee of high-ranking officers called on Mary Young Pickersgill, a Baltimore widow who had had experience making ship flags, and explained that they wanted a United States flag that measured 30 feet by 42 feet. She agreed to the job.

A young lawyer by the name of Francis Scott Key, visited the enemy's fleet to secure the release of a Maryland doctor, who had been abducted by the British after they left Washington. He was successful in his mission, but the British officers would not allow him to escort the doctor home until the attack ended. So he waited on a flag-of-truce sloop anchored eight miles downstream from Fort McHenry.

During the night, there had been only occasional sounds of the fort's guns returning fire. At dawn, the British bombardment tapered off. Had the fort been captured? Placing a telescope to his eye, Key trained it on the fort's flagpole. There he saw the large garrison flag catch the morning breeze. It had been raised as a gesture of defiance, replacing the wet storm flag that had flown through the night.

Thrilled by the sight of the flag and the knowledge that the fort had not fallen, Key took a letter from his pocket, and began to write some verses on the back of it. Later, after the British fleet had withdrawn, Key checked into a Baltimore hotel, and completed his poem on the defense of Fort McHenry. He then sent it to a printer for duplication on handbills, and within a few days the poem was put to the music of an old English song. Both the new song and the flag became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner."

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, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting 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?

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!

Dear Chaya,

I agree with you about fireworks. I have always thought it a dangerous, polluting and anti-social way of ushering in what is supposed to be a happy occasion.

Two years ago I wrote a strongly worded letter to the Press about the sale and setting off of firecrackers, which are banned in Malaysia. The same night, the police, motivated by the accusations of poor enforcement, did their rounds and fined those in my neighborhood who set off firecrackers, so Hurray, my letter started the ball rolling after all!

Re Your Comment: I meant you didn't write about my parcel in your diary. Tee hee! I did get your message in the invitation, and your Thank You e-mail, so thank you, dear friend!

Love,
E.L.

i agree about the fireworks, they're slowly getting banned over here although roman candles and the like are still around (sky rockets have been banned)

independence day, a worthy cause for celebration i'd say

sez