This week, as we celebrate American Independence Day, I have been thinking about the poem called The New Colossus, which was written by Emma Lazarus and inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “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.”

Several years ago, our family had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. One warm evening, we sat on the high steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and listened to Judy Collins sing Amazing Grace. As her lovely voice rang out, “Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come…”, I thought of the dreams of the founders of this country. These holy visions of freedoms lived only in dreams before the dream-come-true of America.

Our founders were utopians, trying to create heaven on earth, but the dreams were flawed because they were exclusive. In our young nation, I could not have voted, nor my Hispanic sons, nor could people without property. But a good vision is worthy of approbation, so women, people of color, and the poor fought and struggled and finally gained the rights that we now take for granted. Just in my lifetime, our country has made enormous strides toward living out those original ideals. Our children may find it hard to imagine a world where a black child drank from a different water fountain or attended a separate school. Our daughters cannot imagine a time when a university education was only realistic for their brothers.

Our family also visited the United States Holocaust Museum. One exhibit memorialized the passengers of the Saint Louis, which sailed in 1939 with 937 passengers, most of them Jewish people fleeing Germany for Cuba. Only twenty-two were allowed entry. Cuban officials claimed the remaining passenger visas, bought from corrupt German officials, were invalid. For five days, the ship lingered in the waters within sight of Florida and freedom, petitioning for sanctuary, but the United States had strict quotas and they were sent back to Europe. At least 250 of them died under the Nazi occupation.

On Independence Day, our nation celebrates the vision and conviction of those who founded our country. As much as we feel burdened by an uncertain economy and the threat of terrorism, we are still a place of refuge longed for by so many people. There are no borders when it comes to human dignity; no borders of race or gender or national origin, or religion, or wealth. As we celebrate the progress toward the realization of our founders’ ideals for all citizens, perhaps we can also pray for the wisdom, courage, and generosity to help others realize the American dream. The passengers of the Saint Louis never saw the statue that Emma Lazarus called Mother of Exiles. I wonder if any of them knew her poem. Emma Lazarus was Jewish.

About the Author

Paige Byrne Shortal is an author, choir singer, and lay minister. She holds degrees in theology and pastoral ministry from Saint Louis University and the Aquinas Institute of Theology. After forty years in pastoral ministry, she is enjoying semi-retirement with her husband, three adult children, two dogs, a cat, and a dozen chickens on a rural homestead in Missouri. Paige is also a regular contributor to Bringing Home the Word which is posted each and every weekend at the link below.

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