Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and I love watching fireworks. My neighbor puts off some crazy ones! I live in the city, not the country, so the space isn’t large, but the sky still lights up like a grand finale. I’ll include a couple of pics from last year’s neighborhood fireworks which were really beautiful… and a little worrisome, all at the same time.
Even though fireworks are fun, there’s a deeper meaning behind why we celebrate with them.
Our national anthem was originally written as a poem by Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, not a soldier, in 1814. He was traveling to help negotiate the release of a prisoner but ended up, by sea, witnessing an all-night naval attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. The next morning, when the smoke had cleared, he saw something he never expected: our American flag flying above the fort. After a battle that lasted 25 hours, he was sure our flag would be gone.
The American flag stands for freedom. Francis Scott Key’s anthem was written during a time when life felt uncertain… something I think a lot of us can relate to today.
So tomorrow, enjoy the fireworks. Spend time with family and friends. And maybe, just for a moment, try to imagine a night sky lit up by cannon fire… with rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air… and imagine the next morning, when all smoke was cleared, there on top of Fort McHenry, stood “our” American flag.
Still standing and Still free.
