Good Morning! It’s Monday, October 28.
On this day in 1886, the very first “ticker tape” parade was held in New York City. It wasn’t in honor of a politician or an athlete or a brave explorer. It honored a woman, a very BIG woman. She stood 151 feet high and weighed in at 500,000 pounds! On that day the Statue of Liberty was officially unveiled.
She was a gift from France, a project that had begun more than 20 years before, right after the Civil War. The statue was constructed in Paris, then disassembled and floated across the Atlantic. The base, the pedestal, was supplied by America, and was paid for through donations from more than 100,000 Americans, many of whom could only send a few pennies.
Her left foot stands on broken chains, commemorating the abolishment of slavery. Her left hand holds a scroll that reads July 4, 1776. And her right hand lifts high a torch. The public hasn’t been allowed access to the torch since 1916, but you can still climb to the crown. I had the pleasure and honor of climbing those 162 steps in 1978. Seeing the statue from the inside was an amazing experience and looking out through her crown was a moment that I’ll never forget. Have you had that experience? Email me at cindertex50@yahoo.com and tell me about it.
There is a bronze plaque attached to the Statue of Liberty, and on it are words written by the poet Emma Lazarus. You know them. “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.” The United States was struggling with the issue of immigration when Lazarus wrote those words in 1883, and we, of course, continue to struggle with this issue today.
The inspiring words from that beautiful poem always remind me of other words - spoken 2000 years ago. “Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
