The Anthem Story

The proposed anthem is a song that seeks to reflect the spirit of a town beloved by many. It draws on many threads in the fabric of the community: its past, its present, and its future.

One thread comes from the recent story of Battle Ground itself. The local district has gone through three failed school levies in a row. These elections revealed a deep divide in the region over political and social priorities. As in the country as a whole, sharp cultural winds have blown through the town and widened a rift that many people now feel may never fully heal.

This wound in the life of the community calls for a remedy. It calls for a stronger shared life that can resist the bitterness, resentment, and suspicion that threaten our life together.

Another thread reaches back to the 250-year story of the United States since the Declaration of Independence. That world-changing document declared, with a bold American confidence, that “all men are created equal.” At the time, those words were not fully true in legal, political, and even practical reality. And yet they still rang true in the hearts of many colonial Americans and in the hearts of many lovers of liberty who followed them.

Those words helped call a nation into being: a nation still pursuing honor, liberty, and justice. Even under the shadow of our failures—national and local, past and present— the pursuit continues. It must be renewed in every generation.

The final thread follows the personal story of a grateful immigrant of forty years to that same nation, and a newer transplant to Battle Ground. After seeing and feeling the growing coldness in public life, he longed for something better. He turned to his love of country, his love of music, and his love of God and neighbor, and wrote the words as a kind of healing balm. His eldest son then animated those words with a memorable tune.

The proposed anthem, Home of the Genuine, is a modest expression of their love for their neighbors. It is a prayer and a plea for honest neighborliness, peace, goodwill, and generosity of spirit.

It is not meant to be shallow or sentimental. It does not ignore the patient blood, sweat, and tears required to secure the blessings of liberty in our own community. Instead, it is offered as an antidote to the poison of empty and dishonest politics, which can turn communities toward anger, apathy, and distrust.

At its heart, the anthem is an earnest love note to Battle Ground. ❤️

It is also a mutual pledge for all who would join in singing it: to “grind through to find the diamond in the rough,” and to help make a true home for the genuine here in Battle Ground, Washington.