I am the Flag of the United States of America-Unknown Author

 (Originally Published on this website 7/2/2010-unknown origin of pic or poem)

I am the Flag of the United States of America-Author Unknown

I am the flag of the United States of America.

My name is Old Glory.

I fly atop the world's tallest buildings.

I stand watch in America's halls of justice.

I fly majestically over institutions of learning.

I stand guard with power in the world.

Look up and see me.

The Star Spangled Banner-Francis Scott Key

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through 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 through 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 in 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 washed 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 freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land,
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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!

(Flag is from the World Trade Towers, 2001)

Response to Comment on Would You Hold Up the Flag?

I agree with your comparison of the rod and staff, however, I do not believe that patriotism is dead. I think we are seeing everyday, a more and more arousing of the sleeping giant of God-fearing patriots. I think that the apathy that has taken over the right wing conservatives is gradually melting away as we see what Obama and the other liberals are doing to this country. Even the media is starting to question. Some of the Democrats are starting to question. I think people are finally realizing the government isn't going to let us take care of ourselves without intervention, and that we don’t want to share our wealth with those that are too lazy to work and that we want other nations to know we ARE a Christian nation, NOT a Muslim one, among many other issues.

I don't think you should write off patriotism just yet. I think the basic Christian principles are still at work. Our country is founded and grown on them. I just think we have allowed ourselves to become complacent especially since some of the major denominations of Christianity for years, taught that we should not participate in politics...that we should only pray and God would handle it. Biblically, we are supposed to give to Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's. In this instance "Caesar" requires the participation of the conservative Christians in order to save him. I think the past mindset is breaking as they see that maybe this is the result of our sins and God's punishment and just maybe we should get back to actually reading the Bible instead of following tradition. God gives us choices and those choices have consequences.

I think as the scales fall off of the sleeping giant’s eyes, he will arise and be a force to be reckoned with.

We may have failed in our job of instilling patriotism, but I don’t think so. I would like to think that all three of my sons would hold up that flag alongside my husband and me...….we love our country and we know where we’re going to end up in eternity. We’re not alone and I think the world will start to know that FACT very soon.

Would you hold up the flag? Published in newspaper 12/28/09

I received an audio link the other day with the story of Francis Scott Key and how he came to write the Star Spangled Banner. The story is moving and you can look it up in the history books or on the Internet.


The short version is that the British Navy had hundreds of ships in the harbor at Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. They gave the insurgents one way out of being slaughtered… they could lower their flag at any time and the battery of artillery would immediately stop, the war would be over and Great Britain would once again, be in control of the new country. The patriots, of course, were determined that wasn't going to happen. A flag had been commissioned with dimensions of 32 x 40 feet with each star being 2 feet across, so that there would be no question that the enemy could see it flying from any vantage point.

Francis Scott Key, an attorney, had been sent to one of the British ships to make a deal for the release of prisoners when the officer told him they would all be free by the next morning because they would again be in control of the land. The firing commenced and Key watched it all from the ship. He conveyed what was happening to the prisoners in the hold of the ship in a play-by-play account. They kept asking him if the flag was still flying? Is the flag still flying? Can you still see the flag? The men below were praying during the night that the flag was still there in the morning. The British aimed all they had at the flag for the last three hours of the assault.

In the morning after all was over, there on the high point was the flag...in tatters...and at an odd angle, but there nonetheless. History tells us that the odd angle was because during the attack, the flag pole was snapped and to keep the flag flying, even though bombs were coming in faster and heavier, patriots were holding it up there. As each man was killed, another replaced him and another and another. These were the patriots that won our freedom....the kind of men that are heroes...the kind of men that have maintained our freedom.

I think the generation before me had that same patriot spirit, having been through the great World Wars. They sacrificed a lot. They passed it on to our generation. We saw patriotism in action: saluting the flag, standing when the flag went by, learning the Star Spangled Banner, the Pledge of Allegiance, and we honored our military. We respected our government and trusted them to protect us from the Communists. We were proud to be Americans. New immigrants arriving on our shores or coming in from the south or the north were proud to be Americans. They learned our language and our ways because they wanted to fit into the American way of life and they cherished the freedom that came with it.

This has all caused me to wonder if our generation has managed somehow to instill patriotism and pride into the younger generations and to wonder if we have allowed being politically correct to dissuade pride in people that have newly come to the land of hope and opportunity.

Have our younger generations managed to salvage what it really means to be an American or realize how many have died for them to be able to live free from tyranny?

I know the Viet Nam police action took its toll against support of the federal government and the military. Corruption in the government hasn't helped any, either.

I know there are a lot of problems that have come out of diversity like having to have your own identity (ex. Mexican-American, Japanese-American or African-American.) I'm thinking that everyone should just be Americans and unify as one people. We have divisions of political parties that are supposed to be speaking for "we, the people" not self-interests or special interests, so much so, that you don't hear about bipartisanship working anymore. We have religiosity dividing us into even more little groups when it should be bringing us together. Diversity and patriotism are opposites. We can't have both.

Our patriotism must totally outweigh our need to be an individual. Our country must take precedence over any one person's or group’s ego or arrogance.

I keep hoping that patriotism may be laying in wait and hidden until "such a time as this" comes upon them like happened on 9/11 and that the sleeping giant of God-fearing patriots will awaken and be ready to strike back at the snake. We are seeing this more and more as tea parties form and Internet sites, blogs, and other groups are reacting to the liberal left's agenda.

We have a responsibility to instill patriotism in each generation by teaching and showing them how to defend our Constitution, our rights and our country especially against those from within the system that are supposed to be protecting and working for us.

Although there will always be those who scoff and put down our country, burn our flag and spit on our soldiers, I hope that there are more God-fearing patriots out there who are going to be ready to stand up to threats within the United States, when they have had enough. I hope that the generations, including mine, have enough pride in their country and belief in God so deeply ingrained in their hearts that they will rise up and go into action to keep our country free from the tyrannical threats coming from any direction.

Search your heart when you ask yourself these questions, “Are you a patriot that would defend your freedom? Would you hold up our Stars and Stripes to keep her waving, even in the face of certain death? Do you love this country so much that you would put her survival above your own?” Are you part of the sleeping giant or have we failed?