Statue of Liberty 2024

Just about everyone who lives in the US especially those living on the east coast eventually get to see the Statue of Liberty (SOL).  It remains a blur when my family of four took this journey except that the day was hot and the ferry was full and the waters turbulent. It was something we needed to do; it was something we wanted to do. We passed Ellis Island where my parents experienced their first landing in America (their names are still recorded in the archives), as they legally entered the US after proper and thorough vetting.  My father came in the 1920's not speaking a word of English with $24 in his pocket; my mother two decades later. My mother spent the next decade learning to speak a few words in English and to practice writing her name to become a citizen while my father taught himself how to write and read to survive in the tumultuous and unforgiving world of the New York environs.  Fast forward more than 100 years, we're back again.  This time my son, David took me - age 77, and his son Miles - age 6 to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - three generations of the Easa family all at once!

The day was overcast but the skyline was majestic, and it felt that that we had travelled back in time to the New York of the 60's when people dressed nicely, they behaved with civility, and those within my viewing represented just about every ethnic group of peoples from around the world (I failed to capture this in my photos).  But it was incredible and I was filled with nostalgia!   

We spent about 40 minutes on Ellis Island. The main building was well kept, iconic, historically consequential, and particularly meaningful as it policies and procedures contrast starkly with our present day politically divisive disarray and open borders. And the building had many rooms and vetting procedures with medical exams, cognitive tests, and stories of the how the immigration staff would  facilitate the reuniting of family members with these newly minted immigrants lacking the resources and/or knowledge to do so on their own.  

A short ferry ride then took us to the Statue of Liberty where we first went to the museum and viewed many of the original strategies and designs, as well as past and most recent renovations such as the one shown below.

We climbed through the bowels of the statue; the first part was a piece of cake. But the spiral staircase to the crown posed some difficulty for me since it was very narrow and the fear of heights unexpectedly captured me with some nervousness and diaphoresis that I did not want to admit to my son and grandson.  Still a very enjoyable experience and one that caused me little physical stress as I gleefully witnessed others much younger than me having to intermittently rest on some of the landings as they worked their way up the SOL.  Sorry no pics from the inside of the SOL. 

Epilogue: 60 years ago about this time, my West Hempstead High School senior class of 1964- was escorted on a trip to the nation's capital to visit monuments, the capital building, supreme court, and other important landmarks of national significance. All I can remember is staying up late at night and dreaming about having my way with the coed of the moment. It did however ultimately leave me with  respect for what presumably was the home of our national leaders there to keep us safe, happy, healthy and prosperous. Considering the present situation in the US, its probably not the right thing to do in 2024. But a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty might restore some meaningful historical perspective for the origins and meaning of this country. To be sure, I recommend that the federal government fund these outings to guaranty that every high school senior in America has the opportunity to visit these important historical landmarks before graduating. 

For me, this trip served many functions and overall was a pleasant, gratifying experience on many levels. 

• It gave me a chance to reunite and travel with my son (David) and grandson (Miles), something I never expected to do.  

• It gave me an opportunity to meaningfully engage with my grandson Miles and observe all of his wonderful qualities...... a very impressive 6 year old who is exceptionally mature, intelligent, pleasant in demeanor, and properly behaving....he almost always said "no, thank you".  He not only answered questions but also engaged in remarkably intelligent conversations, and asked my opinion on several things, not an interchange that is often found when conversing with 6 year olds.
• It gave me an opportunity to rediscover the SOL and Ellis Island and to give thanks to the opportunities that have been provided me as a citizen in America, to which I am indebted to for all of the opportunities and achievements in my life. 
• It gave me an opportunity to visit with my nephew and his family. He is a pulmonary intensive care doc who presently works in New Jersey at the Rutgers affiliated hospitals.

• It gave me the opportunity to visit with my sisters, one 83 years old in excellent health and one 95 years old who is also doing very well considering her age.  It also gave me an opportunity to visit and converse with 20-30 odd first order relatives.  

• It gave me the opportunity to visit Newark, New Jersey for two days using it as a base for going to the SOL. An interesting town, signed store fronts, fenced residential property, broken down buildings, disheveled car repair shops, and some fine looking historic and municipal buildings all strewn in no logical order while somehow functioning despite the cities lack of parking facilities and extreme vehicular congestion.  We went to a place called Top's Diner for dinner the first night on arrival of my son and grandson. We waited an hour to get seated. It was like a United Nations event. The place was unbelievably crowded. Tables were filled with Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, East Indians.......a great representation of America's mix. Everyone was friendly and it felt really good that we were in a place that seemed to truly represent the US. And importantly, it served as an apropos prelude to our SOL sojourn.