In church this past Sunday we sang a number of patriotic songs and one of these was a favorite of mine, America the Beautiful.

I have fond recollections of performing a particularly beautiful arrangement of this song that the University of Texas Longhorn Band used to play when I was a member of the group.

I think most of us are familiar with the first stanza, but it is the words of the other stanzas that caught my attention as we sang this song together in church on Sunday.

There is some interesting history behind the poem, which was the origin of the song. Katherine Lee Bates wrote the original poem in 1893 and then wrote another version in 1904 and her final version of the poem was written in 1913.

This poem took at least 20 years to complete, and it moves American patriots today as much as it did a century ago.

Bates was on a vacation visiting Pike’s Peak in Colorado when she was inspired to write the poem. After she went back to her room that night, she told friends that countries such as England failed because while they were "great" they had not been "good."

"Unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way," Bates said.

After traveling across this country this past month, I can say for certain that 230 years after it all started, America is still good.

America is still beautiful.

If Ms. Bates was around today, I think she would agree with me.

editor@thecountywide.com