Yes, a better verse

Edwin J. Borrebach's letter, "Stanza Switch" (July 19), contains a timely suggestion that we sing the fourth verse of our national anthem. Rather than dwelling on the sights and sounds of battle, we would do well to contemplate the message in the fourth verse and how well (or not) we have lived up to its ideals. ...

"Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-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" ...

To recall some of our prior causes let me suggest "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. I don't consider a cause just, just because an unelected, but appointed (by the most empathic decision ever of our Supreme Court) commander in chief had a hankering to be a "war-time president."

Educating the citizens to proficiency in the fourth verse would be a problem, however, since so many of them hardly know the first verse. I doubt that many know there are four verses.

 

ROBERT S. LACKEY
Shadyside