God Bless America
She was big, what kinder
folks might call healthy-looking, and she was loud. When a song was allowed to
ride on her voice, it stayed ridden, and no one else would ever be able to sing
it again; it wouldn’t be the same. Kate Smith’s signature song, God
Bless America, is a standard of American patriotic anthems; perhaps more
moving even than The Star Spangled Banner, definitely closer to most folks’ vocal
range. If it’s possible to be in love with a song, then God Bless America and I have been romancing for about thirty years
now. It’s a trite song really, “From the mountains, to the prairies, to the
oceans white with foam”, but it’s the next part that really gets me: “God
Bless America! My home sweet home.” It’s not the words; it’s the way she
sings them that sits me upright. When Kate Smith trumpets “God Bless
America...” I believe even God listens. Her voice appears a paradox on that
one line. As more commonly happens in Negro spirituals, the words leap forth
with power, but the aftertaste is all humility. Kate Smith is not telling God to
bless America; she’s asking him with her whole heart. And that is why the song
works for me, it’s not just an anthem, it’s a prayer and a petition. Someone
played a recording of God Bless America at
the recent Republican convention while the image of an American flag waved on
the jumbotron. The camera cut to the faces of a few delegates. They were in
tears, and so was I. So far I’ve had the opportunity to see both Generals
Powell and Schwarzkopf speak at the
convention. They didn’t do it in song, but they each ended their speech with
those three words: “God Bless America”. Sadly in both cases, the words
emerged as if an afterthought, a catch phrase, a feeble attempt at a patriotic
“Amen”. There was power in their voices all right, but there was no
humility. Both generals gave me the impression that “God Bless America” was
a direct order. I wonder if that
got God’s attention? I mean, creating the earth and universe and all, making
man out of clay, butterfly wings, chocolate, doing all that and then having
someone ordering you around? That’s gotta hurt. Frankly, if a man can’t
humble himself before God, what chance is there that he’s going to serve us?
Every time I hear a politician or leader say those three words, I listen close.
The way in which he speaks them tells me a lot about the kind of man he is. It
takes a humble man to serve, and it takes a servant to make a good politician.
Even the politicians believe that, at least while they’re campaigning. So
it’s good to listen for humility, and it’s easy to compare the candidates’
humility with those three words. I’ll bet your dog taught you that it’s not
the words that matter, it’s the manner in which they’re spoken. There are
tones which stowaway on the voice as it comes up out of the body and past the
soul. They betray the health of a person’s spirit and reveal more than actual
words could ever share. Hey, I want God to bless America too, and that’s why
I’m voting for people who really know what it takes to get God’s
attention...with knees that can still be bent, and voices that can still be
humbled when they say “God Bless America”.