By Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton
We are far from the detention camps at our southern border, but I am concerned about what is going on there. I believe it is a reflection of what we, the United States of America, believe and stand for. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty, after all, says, “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!”
Perhaps especially here in the relatively unpopulous West we talk a lot about freedom, but we are not free if we are alone, as individuals or as a country. Freedom, liberty, has to be a shared thing, because we are all part of the same world and therefore ultimately dependent on one another, whether that would be our first choice or not.
Lights for Liberty is an international effort to stand up and shine a little light on this cause (see https://www.lightsforliberty.org/). I plan to take my candle to where the blue chairs are at the Ravalli County Museum (corner of Bedford and South 3rd in Hamilton) at about 7 pm on Friday, July 12th. I haven’t asked permission but will do so, and if it’s a problem, I’ll stand in the street.
I’ll be there for an hour or so. Join me?