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Our British roots and need for freedom

It turns out the melodies of four popular, American patriotic songs owe their origins to the British.

Did you know that a British doctor wrote “Yankee Doodle Dandy” to poke fun at the “inferior” American colonists? The Americans at that time turned the tables and adopted the tune as a proud marching song!

That must be the American way of taking insults and hurts and turning them into motivation and healing.

Did you know the song “America” is set to the tune of the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen”? Due to the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II, the song will be changed to “God save the King.”

Even “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was originally an old English melody. Later revived as the tune for “John Brown’s Body,” it was linked with Julia Ward Howe’s stirring lyrics, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord.”

Did you know “Hail to the Chief,” the ceremonial theme for American presidents, owes its lyrics to an Englishman? They are from Sir Walter Scott’s “The Lady of the Lake.” The melody was written by two Europeans, James Sanderson and E. Rilley.

But take heart!

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is American. Both Francis Scott Key, writer of the lyrics, and John Stafford Smith, generally regarded as composer of the rousing melody, were from “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

In the summer of 1893, Katharine Lee Bates stood on the summit of Pike’s Peak in Colorado and had the inspiration to write “America the Beautiful.” The story is told that she had been to the Columbia Exposition in Chicago a few days before and had seen the display of America’s productive greatness; she had ridden, for the first time, across the vast sprawling plains of America’s farmlands and mountains. Out of these new experiences, she had the vision to write the song and give expression to her feeling.

She left us words to ponder: “America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea.”

We are inescapably tied to the British people. Maybe that is why we are so captured by the death of Queen Elizabeth II. It is my understanding that she was one of the most famous and admired people of our time. Some say her name is known all over the world. She was the Queen of England and/or the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022.

I am told she was that country’s longest-serving monarch. Even though she held no real power in the British government, she had great influence not just in her country but in the world as we know it.

Our prayers are with the entire royal family, King Charles III, the British people, and the United Kingdom.

It is interesting that we fought the American Revolution to be free of any British monarch, and finally proclaimed our independence on July 4th, 1776. We still celebrate it every July 4th, yet we still have left our hearts in the United Kingdom. Especially with the Royal Family, it’s the best soap opera or TV show in the world. Why not? In our hearts we are still a part of the extended British family. It’s where we came from as a country. There would be no USA if there was no United Kingdom.

The annual report issued by Freedom House, a freedom monitoring organization, reveals that 42% (or 2 billion people) of the world’s population lived under restrictive governments in more than 50 countries last year. Among the most oppressive were Russia, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Ethiopia. Twenty-three percent of the world’s population lived in partial freedom, accounting for 1.1 billion people. The remaining 35% of the world’s population enjoyed living in countries offering civil liberties and politically free governments, a slight decline from 36% starting in 1983.

Along with the United States, some of the freest nations in the world are Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, and Belgium.

“We believe the mission of freedom is the primary mission of our time. A third of the world has only minimal freedom at most and even that minimal freedom is decreasing yearly.”

That is a quote from Dr. Ernest Gordon, former president of an organization concentrating on aiding religious dissidents in foreign lands. Gordon, a United Presbyterian minister, was a Japanese prisoner of war working on the “Railroad of Death” in Thailand. He commemorated that experience in his book “Through The Valley Of The Kwai.”

Dr. Gordon, went on to say, “We take so many of our freedoms for granted. Apathy is our greatest problem here in the United States.”

A few weeks ago, we were sent on a mission trip to Brazil. It was my 1st time in South America, and Brazil is a beautiful country. We were blessed to be there on September 7th, which is their Independence Day. They gained their independence on September 7, 1822, from Portugal and they became the Empire of Brazil. While we were there, we heard the news that Queen Elizabeth II died.

No matter where you live on the Earth, I believe the whole world mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II and should pray for her family. We also should pray that freedom grows all over the Earth. Pray for the people of Ukraine.

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