The New Colossus
This afternoon, in typical Sunday afternoon fashion I found something incredibly trivial to do with my spare time. So, my girlfriend and I went to redbox and rented Milk. It was a great movie, and somewhere in the middle Harvey Milk speaks about the words engraved in the pedastel of the Statue of Liberty. Below is the full poem, I wanted to post it because I think that it truly reflects not only my own ideals and values, but those of our Nation.
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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” —Emma Lazarus, 1883
The words ”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-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” particularly strike me. She is not asking for the best of us, rather she seeks those with the least: she seeks those without education, food, money, shelter, or belongings. I fear that sometimes we – as a people – lose sight of these values. I fear that in the current economic climate that we will retreat into hostile populism and persecute those whom we assign some sort of ambiguous blame.
I fear that in the epitaph of human history that when historians look back to the United States of America that those words – engraved into the Statue of Liberty – will not ring true. It is with this fear in mind that I call on all of my contemporaries to demand statesmanship from those whom we’ve elevated to positions of authority and power. I propose that we demand our legislators to act as facilitators and mediators rather than mouthpieces for the lowest common denominator. Instead of telling or legislators how to vote or what they should do on AIG we should engage with them in a dialogue about the most prudent course of action. Let us find a way to include those of us who may lack in material posessions, but demonstrate a wealth of wisdom and compassion far beyond their educational attainment.
It is my sincere belief that it’s time for us – the electorate, the people – to demand that our representatives speak with us rather than to us. It’s time for us to stop quibbling about how we help those in need of substanance and simply do it. We, as a nation, must commit to one another. This will take time, energy, and struggle but I believe that unless we make the commitment now we will lose our soul in the process.
We have a choice, and it’s not just up to those who work in Washington. It’s up to each of us to re-define how we interact with each other, our government, and our institutions. The time has come for us to cease the talk and move into action. Change will not come without action, and action will not necessarily bring about change. Let us pursue those goals that reflect the poem above, let us take in the poor and the weak. Let us take in those who yearn to be free. Let us raise the torch of liberty higher than ever before for the whole of humanity to see. Let us humbly move forward and cease the frivolous bickering of ideology.
The cynical and those mired in the old paradigm will ask “How should do we do this?” My only response is as simple now as it was during the 1990s when Nike first coined the slogan, “Just do it.”
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