Shots Fired in Anger
We celebrate the 4th of July, here in the United States. On the anniversary of signing of the Declaration of Independence, we recall the actions of rebels breaking the law, conspiring against legal authority. On the anniversary of a part of the British Empire declaring itself free, in defiance of King, God, and law.
We sing stirring words set to an old British drinking song we call the Star Spangled Banner, our ‘National Anthem’. The words by Francis Scott Key recall one long night, when Key watched the shelling of an American fort by the British. In the dark the sparks of powder blowing shells from the cannons on the ship where Keyes was held must have been a scary and wondrous site — the machines of war often are. The explosions as the shells impacted, intended to batter down walls with their weight, tear up and kill people and structures with their explosive fury, and set fire to what remained, all would be visible from where the ship lay. The fear of the devastation wrought against their fellows, the fear that the British might succeed in demolishing the ability of this fort to protect against the British they were resisting, the fear that the Americans would be able to shell and damage or sink the ship where Keyes and his companion were held captive while shelling the fort.
We choose to set off fireworks on this holiday. A tame, civilian version of the shots fired in anger on the battlefield. We "Ooh!" and "Ahh!" over the showers of colored sparks that appear over head, we delight in the displays of showers of sparks erupting again and again, higher each time. We thrill, we cringe, we shiver with delight at the loud reports of the explosive rounds. These structures of sparks in the air, in their shapes of stars, of cones, of trees, of fountains, that remind those that have seen war of the sights and sounds of cannons and rifles fired at the enemy, and fired back by the enemy.
Our heritage as a nation is not that of a warrior. Our heritage that we celebrate today is the creation of war by men able to do so. The leaders, those with something to gain, lead a disorganized, rural people into war against the British Empire. On Memorial Day we remember those that have fallen in armed service to their country. On Veteran’s day we honor those that have survived their time of military service, paying special homage to those injured in battle that continue paying with their lives the cost of defending America. On this anniversary of the declaration of the end of the ill feelings, the illegal acts, the harassment of and toward the British Empire, and the start of armed rebellion, we parade the weapons of war, the war ships, the war planes of today and bygone conflicts. And we replay a bit of the memories, done up in ‘pretty’, of shots fired in anger.
Today I recall that Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President head our country today, fulfilling the roles of our ‘founding fathers’. That that role includes starting wars when they have something to gain. Actions that get Americans killed, and enemies of America. Actions that some oppose as ‘illegal’ or ’self serving’. Actions that every single one of us has a Constitution driven responsibility to hold accountable for their actions.
People kill for their beliefs, here in America and abroad. Belief in right to sell products, from firecrackers and heroin and oil to cabbages and lettuce and wheat and cattle. Belief in responsibility to lead their families to live as their fathers, as their church, or as other leaders dictate, from Muslims to Mormons to Hippies. People kill when they feel they have been wronged, on the freeway and in their neighborhood, whether an insult, an attack on their children, or on their honor or property. The men we allow to decide for or against war make their choices, and set the course for the Nation.
SF author Marion McMaster Bujold points out that ‘a weapon is what you use to change your enemy’s mind’. A rifle, a soldier. An army or navy. Cannon, or a treaty or public statement. And on this anniversary of the United States of America, we choose the symbols of war — the parade to recall marching of troops from their home to the battlefield and as a display of might, fireworks to recall the firing of shells and of cannon and mortar, and patriotic songs reliving the slogans, the conflicts of our fathers — we choose symbols of shots fired in anger to celebrate.
Happy 4th of July. Celebration of the men that create war, and the tools they use to shape the world.
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July 5th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Poetic. But it’s Francis Scott Key: http://www.usflag.org/history/francisscottkey.html. Frances is a woman’s name. If you are going to be high and mighty at least get the names right.
Or stick to making babies. Preferably the latter.
July 5th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Thanks for the correction to Mr. Key’s name — I corrected my original post.
Thanks, too, for the link to the story of Mr Key watching with two other Americans from British ships in Baltimore harbor, as British ships shelled Fort Henry in the second year of the War of 1812, shortly after the British burned the capital building in Washington, D.C.