Charles R. Travis, 32°
335 Inca Parkway, Boulder, Colorado 80303
c.travis1@home.com

"Oh say! Can you see?" Thus begins our National Anthem. We stand, some remove hats or caps, some place their hands over their hearts, all salute the flag in their way. Often, we then hear "Play Ball!" And we return to our pleasant activities, not really giving thought to the full meaning of "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Yes, the first verse ends in a question. As if there were doubt, worry, concern.

In the week of September 11, 2001, we asked the question above, and we heard part of the answer; "that our flag was still there." Still, other questions are raised in our National Anthem's second and third verses.

Finally, in the fourth verse we begin to comprehend why and what our National Anthem is all about. It is a declarative statement, not a question. It is a statement of power and of thanks. We have so often asked "Oh say! Can you see?" Now is the time to sing the answer penned by Francis Scott Key in Baltimore Harbor, on the morning of September 14, 1814:

Oh! Thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved home and 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 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!

Charles R. Travis is a Past Master of Boulder Lodge No. 45, Boulder, Colorado; an Affiliated Past Master with Nevada Lodge No. 4, Grand Lodge of Colorado; and a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies of Denver.