LIBERTY

Liberty…is it so complicated?

Synonyms are freedom, independence, autonomy, and emancipation.  As Americans I think we sometimes forget how special liberty really is.  We forget that we’ve fought hard to be the land of the free.

I recently watched a PBS special presentation of the story of the Statue of Liberty by Ken Burns.  Let me say that was quite an awesome program!  My husband and I both had tears in our eyes as we watched the story unfold of how Lady Liberty came to stand in New York Harbor.  It is a tale of strife, disorganization, discord, but yet triumphs.  She nearly succumbed to a death stranded in hundreds of crates, never to be erected.  (But, I’ll let you research her story yourself.  You can order the DVD from PBS if you missed it.)

I had a thought that I wanted to share, and I hope it’s not interpreted as political or anti-immigration…that’s not where I’m going.

My question is: do you think that perhaps our ancestors who came through Ellis Island, experienced the awe of the vision of the Statue of Liberty, and understood the power of what she stood for? Did that have an effect on how they came to respect our great land?  Do you think that as they passed by Lady Liberty they were impacted by the symbol of what it truly meant to be free?  And do you think that perhaps, just perhaps, that the immigrants who now are coming across other borders into the US are missing that impact of liberty?  Do they perhaps not understand or respect the importance of what basis our country was founded upon?

I don’t want to get up on a big soap box here; I’m just wondering.  Have we diminished the significance of liberty by allowing immigration across our other borders?  Is there a way to bring back that spirit of freedom, that strength of America?  Our country would be nowhere without our immigrants…nearly all of us have ancestors who were born in a different country.  And again, I’m not here to bash our current president—I don’t have a clue as to when or where we’ve started our decline.  And maybe, you might say, what decline?  You might say, all Americans are still free and we respect that right.  Or do we?  I’m just concerned that on a day-to-day basis, we sometimes tend to overlook and forget what our founding fathers had in mind for the United States of America.

Can we keep that spirit of independence and liberty alive every day…not just on the Fourth of July?  Can we be the firecrackers that ignite the character of our country and never, ever forget that we are indeed the land of the free and the brave?  I know we can!

Etched at the foot of the Statue of Liberty is this poem.  Please read it and be respectful of our liberties.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles.  From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips.  "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"              

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I welcome all comments.