She was 10 years late for a party that was 100 years in the making. Fashionably late though she was, the Statue of Liberty arrived in 1886 and has since stood unmoving. Last week she celebrated her 117th birthday, but the party guests were few.
Since the Statue closed on Sept. 11, 2001, visitors have been able to tour only the grounds surrounding the monument. The National Park Service’s Web site posts this discouraging statement: “The Statue, museum exhibit, pedestal and crown remain closed indefinitely.”
The Statue will not reopen unless it receives a security overhaul, including increasing the number of exits and improving emergency notification systems.
Despite the risks involved, many would like to see the Statue reopened. They argue that to keep it closed is to allow the terrorists to strip our country of its freedoms. Their argument is strong: How can a statue represent freedom when America’s citizens are no longer free to visit the worldwide symbol of freedom?
I’ve been to New York City twice since Sept. 11. My first view of the Statue was from the southern tip of Manhattan. I watched her for as long as I could stand the cold December wind blowing in from New York Harbor.
Some subways were down that evening, so I was forced to walk back through downtown in search of a train.
On my way back, I was surrounded by buildings and buildings and buildings and then … nothing-a large hole where two tall buildings should have been standing. I unknowingly stumbled upon Ground Zero and saw firsthand the terrorists’ results.
On my second trip to New York, I took a ferry ride out to Liberty Island to get a closer view of the Statue. The ferry ride offered my first view of the New York City skyline. I’m sad that I never got to see the World Trade Center’s dominating towers rising into the sky.
Such should not be the fate of the Statue of Liberty. We should never have to gaze into a Statueless New York Harbor because we re-opened the Statue when it wasn’t safe to do so.
Granted, risks are inevitable. Because of the ferry accident a few weeks ago, we see that not even a simple ferry-ride into New York Harbor is completely safe. Plane rides into the city are still a little nerve-wracking.
Despite restrictions and acknowledgement that there exists a certain amount of risk in everything, the Statue should remain protected through a temporary closure until the proper security measures are in place.
This is not the first time the Statue has been closed to the public. In preparation for its centennial, it underwent an $87 million reconstruction project in 1984. It takes a lot of time and money to give a 111-foot woman a makeover.
The Statue is again in need of money or it will continue to remain closed.
Lady Liberty is used to waiting.
The Statue’s construction was a joint French-American effort with the American’s responsible for building the pedestal on which the Statue stands.
As fund-raising in America was going slowly, Joseph Pulitzer began running editorials encouraging citizens to give. He criticized the rich for not giving enough and the middle class for waiting around for the rich to give. The Statue arrived 10 years later than intended because of the lack of funding.
In the spirit of Pulitzer, I encourage those who want the Statue to be re-opened to the public not to allow this fund-raising effort to take 10 years.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is raising money to fund improvements. Make a donation at the Web site, www.ellisisland.org/reopen.asp.
When the Statue was officially dedicated 1886, President Grover Cleveland said, “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.”
Do not neglect the altar of Liberty by failing to contribute to this cause.
Michael Stewart is a senior philosophy and religion major. He can be reached at [email protected].