The Star-Mangled Banner

Though I’m writing this in April, it’s written with our most enduring national holiday in mind.

    The television broadcasts have been unmerciful towards one particular lady, of late. Of course, there is the proverbial film clip, and this one was both humorous and embarrassing to witness.

    She is one of that myriad of invited soloists to attempt our National Anthem at a sporting event.

    She will be remembered, but not for her great singing ability. For, you see, as she stepped out onto the ice at a Montreal/United States hockey game, she forgot her words. After a couple of lines, she blushed, began again, but still couldn’t continue. She looked a bit like “a deer in the headlights,” as she said, “I’m sorry,” and left the ice.

    After a few moments, she returned to the ice, obviously more confident, and armed with the words of the famous anthem. But as she stepped down onto the ice, her high heels betrayed her, and she fell on her back; well, maybe her fanny. A few hockey players helped to her feet, and humiliated, she turned, and walked out of the arena;

    … for the last time.

    But though the headlines appropriately read, “The Star-Mangled Banner,” the brave little lady was not through yet. She was invited to appear on “Good Morning America,” where she attempted; you guessed it,

     … “The Star Spangled Banner!” 

    I wish I could tell you she did well. Well, no

     … she botched it. As Forrest Gump might say… “Again.”

    But that precious young lady surely gets an “A” for effort. And who would have the gall to demean her any more than the film footage already has? Surely not I.

    Patriots, known and not so well known, have all been there. I could recite their deeds, be they humorous, such as the previous illustration, or be they deadly serious, such as the failed attempt to rescue the American hostages in Iran.

     We might reflect on Colonel Robert Gould Shaw of the Union Army; who with a thousand black troops failed to secure a Confederate fort in South Carolina. Or we might mourn with General Washington, as his valiant troops starved at Valley Forge.

      I’m grateful to be associated, in some small way, with the lot of them

     … including that little lady who “botched” our national anthem.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 13

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