by MaxI stole a kiss from Lady Liberty. It was impetuous, but she seemed beaten. Tears were streaming down her cheek and she could barely support the weight of her torch. The light dimming because of the darkness of the cells in Guantanamo Bay and Bagram. She had scanned the horizon looking for her friend Ronald Reagan to help lead the country through the thicket of immigration reform. She took a body blow with the revelation that her country had proudly engaged in torturing people. Just on the edge of her line of sight, she witnessed one of her favorite cities drown because of years of neglect and slow government response rendering her mute. Our stoic Lady had her knee caps taken out with corporations given the same rights as her citizens. She was hit over the head with a toxic campaign turning off huge numbers of voters. Her citizens drew blood before she even arrived on these shores to bring democracy to America, and now a minority of the population actually bothers to cast a ballot. Lady Liberty worked for nearly 200 years to get former Africans living in the United States the right to vote, and after only 35 years of unrestricted access to the ballot less than 50% of those citizens actually took the time to select their leaders. Her robes were tattered after the bankers put profits over their community. Our grand old Lady had her crown entangled with barbed wires from a decade of war, and her legs were shackled and scarred from elected officials working only for their own re-election.
On her knees, after being kicked and beaten, embarrassed and humiliated, she just seemed like she needed a kiss. I wish there was something more I could do.
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