September 18, 2022

What is Liberty? Ask different and you get different answers. Liberty/freedom is thrown into discussions in the United States. Who is allowed to give it? Is too much of it a bad thing? Can it paradoxically infringe another person’s?

Questions I had after I of visited Liberty Island for the first time in my life on September 14, 2022. I went to the city were an outpouring of people go visit in order to get to the island. I hopped on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Jersey City, from Newport to Liberty Park Station. New York City and its metro are a little clichéd. The walk from the station to the ferry following along Audrey Zapp Drive was quite a distance (about a mile). (NJ government, please build a trolley). You can do important activities along the way, like getting exercise, planning your visit to Liberty/Ellis Island, catching up on two episodes of SpongeBob. Use time wisely!

The tickets were bought at the now decaying terminal for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. (I have more to talk about the terminal in the near future). The boat was labeled Miss New Jersey, the fact that someone lost the pageant to a boat is quite sad. The boat arrived first to Ellis Island, then Liberty Island, then back to Liberty State Park directly. On the boat, I bought a bottle of Sprite (because I earned it for walking a mile) and a three inch keychain of the Statue of Liberty that was $6.20. About $2.07 for every inch. Like that fish from SpongeBob said, “It’s worth every penny”. On the top deck, got to see the famous universal green oxidized symbol of freedom up close for the first time, as I disembarked. My first stop was to take an audio tour speaker, the one that you hold to your ear as you go along to different areas. I only used it twice before  I had a “Forget It” type feeling. Too much work!

$6.50!

Museum

The small museum on the island talked about the history and construction of the Statue. One exhibit had memorabilia about the lasting impact of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue inspired the Goddess of Democracy statue made of paper-mache that was made during the anti-government protests in Tiananmen Square and later destroyed by the Chinese government.  

The “main” attraction of the museum is the original now glass paneled torch that was replaced for being irreparable which strayed from Bartholdi’s the designer’s original vision of a gilded flame.

The patina (green coloring) of the copper makes it hard to visualize the original bronze color, the museum however has a full scale replica of the face and foot of the Statue of Liberty in the original bronze color. The museum actually lets you touch it, if you ever wanted to touch the Statue, now you can I guess. I understand the face of the Roman goddess Libertas since the face is the recognizable feature of any person, but why the right foot. Something for the American historians with a foot fetish, just don’t Tarantino or that creep from Nickelodeon find out cause I’m afraid of chaos that would ensue. (BTW, they have miniature magnetic versions for sale at the gift shop). Try explaining to parents why there’s a foot magnet on the fridge or a face with soulless eyes judging you for taking that extra cake piece.

“Honey why is there a magnet in the shape of Lady Liberty’s foot on the fridge?”

“Um, well… I enjoy the architecture of the Statue.”

Usually, people just have magnet of the entire statue or just the head and crown. If you decide to get those, go ahead. I’m just guy from Long Island rambling about souvenirs.

The museum has a kiosk that involved you taking a picture and adding seven images on what liberty meant to you. Each image had a caption associated with it (i.e. soldiers praying captioned with “freedom of religion”). Then you would attach the flag of your nationality to your photo and watch your photo and images made into a collage along with other patrons pictures as well in the shape of the Statue.

Impressions

Unfortunately, crown and pedestal entry was closed that day. There’s always next time. Seeing the statue up close for the first time made me admire the workmanship done. To design a work of art that large and make it an iconic symbol of freedom in not just the US but worldwide, took a special kind of talent especially in the time period that it was constructed. The Statue inspired me to ponder on what I think “freedom/liberty” means.

What it means for me?

To me “liberty” has a religious and secular meaning which is tied for me, in the same way the Founding Fathers envisioned freedom as coming naturally from God. God has created everyone equal in the sense that one person is not more important naturally. Strip every person of titles, influence, wealth, power, etc., we are all just the same. At the end of the day, God gives us the freedom to choose (free will) whether we accept and follow his commandments or not. As Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV). We have been born in bondage to sin and use our God-given freedom to paradoxically oppressing your fellow neighbor to feel important and have more “liberty” than the one you oppress but actually it spiritually oppresses yourself in the process. A person is uncontrollably lead by corrupt ambitions that drag them further into despair in trying to maintain said perverted lifestyle. You become a slave to your sin/addiction.  I believe Christ died a horrific death for all of humanity, so that through him, we would be able to be free from sin by having Him as a savior. In this life, worry traps us in a hole of despair, anxiety, depression that bounds us to keep us from enjoying life of freedom that God offers in Him. In a secular government like the US, I feel that the government should abide by the “created equal” principle, and give the people the right to live as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s rights. That topic however has been controversial throughout US on how should it be put into practice as the government like the people running it is imperfect. To me ideally, we for the most part strive to live in peace with other people and respect there choices, but using politics for our beliefs to be the dominant ideal often leads us to force our beliefs on other people. We make a lapse in judgement, no matter how much wisdom we accumulate. God to me is the perfect freedom, but because of imperfectness, we won’t be able to experience freedom from the bondage of corruption and sin until we make our home in heaven with him.

What does “freedom/liberty” mean to you?

That quote by Washington just makes the photo more awkward than it really is.