While listening to a Top 40 countdown of songs from 1981, the DJs introduced "America" by Neil Diamond. My ears perked up. I hadn't heard this song in a long time. "America" sent me back to the past but also brought me all the way back to the present.
The song is an anthem, a chest-thumping joyous cry celebrating all the of people coming to this land of freedom: the United States. "On the boats and on the planes, they're coming to America." Irresistible lyrics. How proud we should be that all these people want to come to America. She is the star these people navigate towards.
Hearing it made me think of this year's 250th anniversary. It came and went, without the unifying fanfare a big anniversary deserves. America's bicentennial in 1976 felt more epic. That was probably because I was 8. It also probably helped that America had limited TV options, and no Internet. There were fewer distractions to a call for a national celebration.
The melody and the rhythm and the ideas of the song still work for me. Perhaps today's waves of people are entering a land that is more fraught. To them I'd say: trust the spirit that brought you here. That star's light is real. It can be a noisy here, but listen to those who made their dreams come true here. The effort to make yourselves better makes this nation batter.
 |
| American Flag (Mike Mozart) |
No comments:
Post a Comment