Assemble with Care

I always pictured the iconic Statue of Liberty being shipped to us across the Atlantic Ocean from France in one massive single piece. I just learned that is not the case. Instead in mid-June 1885, it reached New York City on a French ship packed in 350 parcels that had to be carefully assembled into the statue within the next four months. Hopefully those contained many detailed schematic instructions in English or we could have ended up with a monstrosity instead of one of the world’s most recognizable symbols for liberty and refuge.

There’s a lesson there. Freedom, liberty, love, truth—all important hard-won principles must be carefully assembled step by step—not thoughtlessly slapped together in a hurry. When built the right way, they last to become inspiring landmarks known worldwide as well as appearing on U.S. coins and printed on sweatshirts.

Happy Fourth of July and Happy 248^th Birthday, America. May these words from Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” etched on the statue’s pedestal always be true of us. “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!”