American Optimism

“ We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.” - Barack Obama


"Americans. What holds us together? What do all of us have in common?

Love of freedom? Of course. But even deeper than that, the one quality we share is optimism. Think about it. Haven't we always been able to imagine something better - freedom of religion, streets paved with gold? Land of our own for a split-level, a farm or a ranch? We not only imagined it, we had the guts to go for it. Admittedly, the people who came here were often leaving appalling conditions behind. But not everyone did leave. Did all Germany and Ireland empty out during the potato famine? Were the shtetls in Russia deserted after the Kishinev progroms? No. Most stayed.

So think what optimism it took for the people who did make the journey to uproot themselves, to start a new life here. And for so many of those who did not come freely: Look how they not only survived but prevailed. Whether it's nature or nurture that breeds this spirit, we Americans are the children of these rough critters. We have their genes and that quality of theirs that is either confidence or naivete. But we believe in happy endings. We root for the underdog, and if the underdog loses we say, Wait till next year. We truly believe we can discover a Northwest Passage, get to the moon, cure a disease, find true love. And when times are hard and we realize we ourselves will not reach our goal, we have an abiding belief that our children will." - Susan Isaacs, Red, White and Blue

“We're entering our third century now, but it's wrong to judge our nation by its years. The calendar can't measure America because we were meant to be an endless experiment in freedom, with no limits to our reaches, no boundaries to what we can do, no end point to our hopes.” - Ronald Reagan, 40th president.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

We Didn't Start the Fire

The Star Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner

During the War of 1812, on September 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington DC. The release was completed, but Key was held by the British overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, Key peered through clearing smoke to see an enormous American flag flying proudly after a 25-hour British bombardment of Fort McHenry. He was so delighted to see the flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion, with a note that it should be sung to the popular British melody "To Anacreon in Heaven."

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that it be played at military and naval occasions. In 1931, the Star-Spangled Banner became our national anthem.

This audio version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was obtained from the United States Air Force (USAF) Heritage of America Band. Visit the USAF Heritage of America Band's officialWeb site for more patriotic songs.

For more information, check out the following resources:

• The United States Code, Title 36 (Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies, and Organizations), Chapter 3 (National Anthem, Motto, Floral Emblem, and March). TheU.S. Code is the permanent book of U.S. laws.
• The Star Spangled Banner Project from the Smithsonian Institution.

Labor Day Word Origins

In 1882, Peter J. McGuire, a leader of the labor union the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (joiner being "a craftsman who constructs things by joining pieces of wood" or "a worker in wood who does more ornamental work than a carpenter") proposed a day to honor laborers. Laborers were considered a new class that worked in the factories and plants created by the Industrial Revolution. Labor Day became a national holiday on which workers in the 1890s and early 20th century used to call attention to their grievances. There were often parades, political speeches, fireworks, and a picnic. Today, Labor Day, celebrated on the first Monday in September (as of 1894, by law), simply honors anyone who works. The date has no traditional or historic significance but was picked because it filled a gap in the schedule of legal holidays. Canada also celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September; many other countries observe this on May 1. The word laborcomes from Latin laborem, "distress, toil trouble; drudgery, labor," and first referred to work that was compulsory or painful. The meaning changed with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The first labor unions or trade unions came with the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain in the 18th century.

Employ comes from a French word employer, which first meant "to apply or make something for a specific purpose." The French word traces back to Latin implicare, "to involve or engage." By the late 16th century, the sense of "to use the services of a person in a business or professional capacity" was recorded. The word employer was coined by Shakespeare (c 1599) and he also used employ and employment. Employee was first recorded in 1850 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, though previously it was spelled employé and was used by 1834 for "one who is employed." The word payroll is a combination of pay and roll as in "list," i.e. "a list of employees to be paid."

A factory was originally a place where traders did their business in another country. The word is based on Latin factorium "an oil press" (for olive oil). As a place for manufacture of goods, the word was first recorded in 1618. According to Wikipedia, the world's first factory was the Venice Arsenal (1104) in Italy, where ships were mass-produced on assembly lines using manufactured parts.

from dictionary.reference.com