I love our National Anthem, and that’s not because I work for the government.  I sincerely love it. The lyrics are so romantic and so well imagined.  When you read it, it sounds so hopeful and optimistic, the very same spirit that stirred revolutionaries.

So it doesn’t make sense to me why it’s sang as a march.

Joey Ayala was right; we, as a people, are very melodramatic.  We have had our fair share of struggles — from colonization to natural disasters — and we have emerged, although quite scarred and traumatized, alive and victorious.  All these struggles is not something you march to.

I didn’t even know that TED Talks are hosted here till I started with graduate school in 2012.  This is a happy revelation.  If it weren’t for these forums, I don’t know where else this new ballad would be debuted.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Now I can only pray that the authorities won’t put him to jail for this.