The Two Lady Liberties
It wasn't until I took a boat ride on the Seine that we discovered there's a second Statue of Liberty. It's on a small island in the shadow of the Grenelle Bridge. Pay attention as you cruise by; at only 35 feet tall, with the Eiffel Tower not far away, it's easy to miss.
On one level, the Paris statue is a sweet thank-you to an ally, an emotional mirror of the statue in New York harbor --- the French gave the statue in New York to America, Americans erected the replica in Paris in 1889.
But without over-egging the pudding, I think the second statue --- and there are more, in Paris and elsewhere --- offers us yet another clue that the kind of macho nationalism the Bush Administration is selling doesn't represent the best in us. That is, it doesn't suggest than "freedom" isn't the property of any culture or country. At a ceremony at the Paris statue in l916, French ambassador Jule Jusserand said, "Not to a man, not to a nation, the statue was raised. It was raised to an idea --- an idea greater than France or the United States: the idea of Liberty."
To those of us who yo-yo back and forth, New York and Paris are sister cities. Their civic boosters may promote them as iconic representatives of their countries; we know they're anything but. New York is the exact opposite of a gated community in the suburbs, it's the last great melting pot, a souk, an Ark. Diversity rules. And tolerance. And a willingness to walk a few blocks more and have dinner at a restaurant featuring the cuisine of a country you've never thought of visiting. As for Paris, is there a more international city on earth?
New York and Paris remind us, as other parts of America and France may not, that we are citizens of the planet first, residents of a nation second. The free air we breathe is our divine right, not our national privilege. Smarties throughout history have said this; in my lifetime, more and more people have started acting on this idea.
On July 4th, when we're being asked to salute a flag that some of us believe our leaders have dirtied and bloodied, it's good to cheer our remarkable nation and pray that the torch in New York harbor is never snuffed out. But let's set aside the smugness that so often accompanies good fortune. Let's remember the fundamental proposition of our democracy --- equal rights for everyone --- and take a minute to ponder how we can keep that light burning.
