Submitted by Tess Hoffman, Michigan

Idea posted October 23, 2002

Question: I am in need of a good song for our November show. The drama teacher and I are writing it ourselves (again!) and the topic is "heroes." We need a song about military people or soldiers, or something like that. We are thanking those people who are heroes in our lives.

Answer: How about that neglected but wonderful verse of "America The Beautiful":

"Oh beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
"Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.
"America, America, may God thy gold refine.
"Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine."

Think about it: Heroes who loved their country and the freedom of others more than they valued their own lives. Doesn't that sum up a lot? She was writing about the soldiers of the Union army, but one could just as easily apply those words to the tragedy of the American Marines in Somalia, to the loss of life among police and firefighters and soldiers since 9-11. I think it's an extremely touching verse.