Day 15: Poor

The poem “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus, stands ingrained on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty.  This poem addresses the millions of immigrants that came to the United States, many through Ellis Island in New York.  The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of hope, promise, and freedom for so many people as they ventured to make a new home in the Land of the Free, their first view of America rising over the horizon.  My far distant relatives were on one of those ships that sailed across.  And my guess is yours were too.

Today, immigrants to the United States are seen in a different light.  They come bearing the same burdens as our ancestors, and carrying the same hope in their hearts.  How are we to respond to their endeavor for renewed life?  Are we to give them a second chance just as our relatives were given?

We once welcomed the poor, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  Now we are torn between shutting the door in their faces and opening a land of opportunity to them.  Who are we to decide?  Are our hearts too crowded as our lands?  And as Christians, how can we turn away the needy?

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!"