The Land of the Free

“Why do we have to leave our home?” Andrea’s question hung in the air waiting for an answer. Her mother, with tears in her eyes, leaned down and kissed young Andrea on the cheek before answering. Andrea noticed her mother was no longer wearing the yellow star she had worn for days. She looked at her own coat and saw that her star was absent now, too.

“Andrea,” her mother’s voice was steady despite the tears in her eyes. “We are thankful to be going to our new home in America. Your uncle has gone to so much effort to help us join him in New York. We are going to have a wonderful new life there with him; I promise you.”

“But, you still haven’t answered my question, Mother,” Andrea persisted. “Why do we have to leave our home? Why can’t Uncle join us where we live instead?”

Andrea watched as her father knelt down to her level and began to talk. She loved the smooth cadence of her father’s voice. She noticed his eyes were shiny, too. She couldn’t imagine her father crying, so she had no idea what made his eyes shine so bright. “Andrea,” he began in way of explanation, “we no longer have a home in Europe. We have been exiled from our homeland because there are people there who do not want us to stay. But in America, everyone is welcome. You will see.”

Andrea hoped her father was right. She had heard her friends talk about America, but she had never thought much about it because she had never believed she would see it. Standing on the edge of the deck of the ship, she began to understand that her world was changing. She could see the outline of a lady, a statue, in the distance. Even from where she stood, Andrea could tell she was beautiful.

“What does the statue mean?” she asked her parents. “Freedom,” they said in unison.

Suddenly, Andrea wasn’t afraid anymore. There was a plethora of reasons she was anxious to reach the shore. In fact, she couldn’t wait to see America.