The Electric Buzz
Patriotism in Schools--Something to Sing aboutSaturday, January 27, 2007 By Briton Merkley
About two years ago, our First Lady, Laura Bush, traveled across the country to talk with communities about the war. During this time, she found that about one of every thirty people knew the words to our National Anthem. To remedy this problem, she has chosen two schools from every state to come to Washington D.C. during every summer since she started doing this, and has them sing on television. By doing this, she is teaching at least two whole schools the words to the National Anthem, and she is also teaching the people of our country the words to it as they are watching the program. Because of this, the school that I attend, Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts, is now going to have a “Patriotic Concert” at the same place as the home of “Broadway in the Desert”. What will happen is that each of the music classes while be performing about a dozen patriotic songs each, and it will not just be our National Anthem over and over again. There will be songs that Country singers have come up with, Rock musicians, and original works performing. We will also be playing all of the military songs; Navy, Air force, Army, Marines, and the Nation Guard. When this happens, we will ask everyone who has been a part of any of these to stand and be honored. Once these songs are done, we will then play a song in tribute to those who have lost loved ones, whether they are sons or daughters or even mothers and fathers. The leader of this endeavor is Tuacahn's music teacher, Ms. Laura Graf. Even though she has endured trials of her own over the past couple of years, this woman has managed to teach many students how to play instruments and how to respect music. This is the community's chance to repay her by attending this concert that she has organized. Though not all are indebted to this woman, we are indebted to this country and should come and pay our respects to those who have served for us and to the families of those who have sacrificed so much for us, including their lives. This concert will be little less than a dent in the steel beam that is continually growing to show how much gratitude we own these people and need to show them, but it will be a dent. We will be making headway with it. |