Today’s post is the montly feature from the July 2007 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.
I have been to New York numerous times, yet I have never gone to Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Shame on me. But I have seen a thousand pictures of the Statue of Liberty as she stands as a testimony to a founding value of our nation — freedom. You often hear that freedom isn’t free. That is true, but it isn’t the whole truth.
I like old music … like really old. Like Big Band and Frank Sinatra. And so does Michael Buble’ who is making quite a living in bringing old songs back to life. I was in Starbucks last week and bought his CD titled, Call Me Irresponsible. It reminded me of one of the lessons of Silent Alarm — Freedom isn’t freedom without responsibility. It is the rest of the story. You see, the Statue of Liberty isn’t finished. Psychologist, author and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Victor Frankl had incredible insight when he proposed that a Statue of Responsibility be built on the West Coast to serve as a visible balance to the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast. It would certainly remind us that any blessing taken to an extreme and abused loses its value.
Ever since my brother, Steve, told me about this, I have been hoping the Statue of Responsibility would become more than just Dr. Frankl’s dream. I have told many people about it — finding that very few people have ever heard of it. They say hope is not a strategy. And up to this point I had just been hoping! Today, I put my money where my hope was and made a donation. I hope you will take a moment to check out this dream of the Statue of Responsibility and see if you think we need to wake-up to the reality that freedom isn’t freedom without responsibility!