"He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb, or a T-shirt cannon or something."

Harbor Park, home of the Norfolk Tides baseball team, sits like a concrete and steel jewel nestled among small time shipyards along the Elizabeth River waterfront.  I've been there twice this past week to watch the Tides play in two rather desultory ballgames.  They aren't having a good season (even the Lake Woebegon Whippets gave them a run for their money) and the games were sparsely attended.  I feel that maybe if the Tides reduced their ticket and beer prices by 20% they may put more butts in the seats regardless of the team's performance, but what do I know?  I'm just a naval architect.

Even if the games haven't been so good it did give me a chance to get in touch with all things that make America great.  Things like circular meats of all kinds sizzling on an open flame.  Zany sound effects.  T-shirt cannons.

Then there is our national anthem, which was sung at both games with great feeling.  Whenever I hear it, I always think about how it is probably the only anthem ever written to the tune of a British drinking song.  No guarantees on that, the British have been everywhere and they do love to drink and to sing, but I simply know of no other off the top of my head.  I'm also not willing to do the research to know for sure.

I am, however, quite sure it is the only national anthem that ends with a question.

We never sing it that way, of course.  The anthem is hard enough to sing as it is; trying to end it with an upward inflection as if to ask a question would make it simply impossible.  But the official lyrics of the anthem do have those last two lines of the the first verse (the only one we typically sing) reading

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?   

I think it is an apt question to ask ourselves, especially as the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings are coming up on Friday.  Discussing the landings with my family in the past, we have sometimes wondered if our nation would be capable of duplicating such a feat, surely one of our nation's finest hours.  

The past 13 years of war have proven that there are scores upon scores of brave men and women who have all the courage and tenacity to fight for our nation, even to the last, and would storm the beaches of Normandy again if that is what was required to guarantee our freedoms.

But what of the rest of us? Could the rest of the nation do it again?  Would we roll up our sleeves and work in the shipyards, the factories, the arsenals?  Would we donate our stockings and start victory gardens? Or would we just subcontract it out to the lowest bidder so that we could go on surfing the internet for cat videos and spend our time arguing about what exactly defines a snack?.  

I don't know if America is a particularly reflective nation, it doesn't seem to be a part of our make-up, which is why remembering anniversaries such as the D-day landings are important. Take a moment to reflect on their sacrifices and those of the men and women who have born the brunt of our wars today.  How best can we honor them?  What do we owe them? Are we worth it?

The answer I'll leave up to you.