American Values

4th of July

My "people" passed this as they came to the US. Some came a few years before but most in the early to mid 1800's. My people came from Germany, England, Scotland. They were welcomed with these words. Have we forgotten them? Or do they only apply to that one port of entry? American Values. Remember them. Live them..

The New Colossus is a poem that American poet Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) wrote in 1883 for the Statue of Liberty, New York.

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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

God abide
Bobbie Bane Giltz McGarey
4th Generation Immigrant
@2005

rev. dr. bobbie mcgarey