Miss Liberty

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send theses, the homeless, tempest-tost to me”. (Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”, 1883)

Standing on a pedestal (literally!) in the Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty (America’s icon of freedom) never fails to give hope and put a smile on the faces of her visitors. At least, this rings true for me. Her neighbouring island, Ellis Island (situated to her south) which is a great island is immersed with many inspiring stories from centuries ago. This island has witnessed the arrival of foreigners/refugees flocking their homelands to seek greener pastures in this new land that promises freedom and opportunities. Unfortunately, despite being aware of how much I needed to visit this historical island while I lived in New York, I never set foot there somehow. I regret this even until today. Oh well, maybe this is one of the many reasons for me to revisit America.

It was a ‘crime’ to have had visited the statue during winter. I knew that shops and tourists spots were usually closed earlier compared to summertime. The obvious truth is because during wintertime, the weather can get extremely cold especially during evenings when Mr. Sunshine decides to retire early. The overwhelming cold temperature makes most of the things you touch (turn into… not gold because dream on, you are not King Midas!) gets frostbitten! Once in a while a blizzard takes place and most of the main roads and highways are blanketed with snow which disrupts the flow of traffic. It was simply pure bad judgment on my part.

Beggars cannot be choosers! Indeed this was a hard lesson I had to learn. Truth is, subconsciously I really did not want to visit Miss Liberty during summertime. Why? Because I was fully aware of the mayhem that takes place there every summer without fail (peak foreign tourists’ season). Tourists from all quarters of the globe happily gallivant this historical site. They throng to meet the much talked about dame with their very own eyes. I am a hundred and ten percent sure that this is one of the items on their to-do-list when visiting New York City. I selfishly did not want to have ended up in extreme long queues and waste hours after hours waiting for a ferry to transport us to those legendary islands. I should have instead planned my trip meticulously.

I should have come out with a smarter plan. I should have visited Ellis Island prior to my visit to Liberty Island. If that was the case, who knows maybe I would have been successful in killing two birds with one stone. I should have been aware that the entrance to Ellis Island closes earlier than Liberty Island’s. What a moron I was! I had put all my guidebooks and maps to great waste.

Reminiscing the sweeter moments of my trip to Liberty Island, I recall the first time my eyes were glued to the beautiful green statue of a woman. The woman wore a coveted crown on her head, bared a torch on her right hand, her left hand held a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law inscribing the date of the American Declaration of Independence, 4th of July 1776) and a broken chain lied at her feet. I clearly remember the soft winter breeze caressing my face when my eyes first met hers. Everything seemed magical and surreal in that frozen moment. My heart melted. My oh my! Miss Liberty’s charms stole my heart away.