I just spent at few days in NYC at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Conference.  I had the opportunity to visit several sites including a behind the scenes tour of Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.  After the visit, I dug up the Sonnet by Emma Lazarus:

The New Colossus

*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-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”*

Visiting these sites is a personal experience.  I think of my Grandmother coming through there alone as a teenager.  I think of her bravery, courage and quest for a better life.  I think of what America stands for:  Freedom and Liberty.

What does freedom or liberty mean to you?  For my family, it meant you could start with nothing and own a large farm after a life time of hard work.  For me, I started a business in a garage, renovated chicken coop and barn loft and now have a multi-million dollar business.  I also started with nothing as in my family you were on your own when you became an adult.  For my ancestors, it meant leaving a more repressive government and coming to a country that stood for self reliance and private property.  Having the liberty to individually achieve more and to be rewarded for your investments of self sacrifice (e.g. my grandmother never saw her family again), hard work (e.g. I’ve worked more hours in the last 25 years than most of the people I know), working smarter (e.g. making the proper financial decisions), … is why people have been flooding here for centuries.  I am very grateful to have had this opportunity.

When I walk through these sacred sites, my heart swells.  The opportunities America has brought to so many is overwhelming.  I fear the loss of liberty and freedom in our future.  Will self reliance, hard work, self sacrifice, risk taking, … be rewarded or punished in our future America?  Do the people have my grandmother’s courage to create something out of nothing?  Has our society become too entitlement oriented instead of self reliant?  What does liberty and freedom mean to you?