"O're the land of the free and the home of the brave"

On this 10th anniversary of September 11th, 2001, a day forever etched in our minds, will go down as a day in infamy. Looking through the pictures of that fateful day, one picture always stands out to me. It resembles the picture from Iwo Jima towards the end of WWII.

This image displays hope. Hope of a nation torn apart by the senseless acts of terror. Through the destruction the symbol of our freedom remains constant. I can only imagine now why Francis Scott Key pinned the poem which later become our national anthem;

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 rockets’ 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?

As Francis Scott Key watched from the British ship HMS Tonnant, on his way to Baltimore in the aftermath of the Battle of Baltimore at Fort McHenry, it became clear to him that our flag, which stands for freedom, was still waving. This poem defines what he saw in those early morning hours and restored hope in his heart as well as the prisoners on the ship. The poem has five stanzas, one which was added during the Civil War, here are the other stanzas: 

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 vict’ry 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!

When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

Seeing our firefighters lift this flag from the chaos and destruction that struck our country, restores hope, causes pride to swell in our hearts and reminds us of our freedom. Let this day be a day of remembrances but also let it be a day of hope that we live in the greatest nation on earth! Thank God for the United States of America!