Statue of Responsibility

The Statue of Responsibility is a proposed structure to be built on the West Coast of the United States. The prototype, sculpted by project artist Gary Lee Price, consists of a pair of clasped hands oriented vertically, symbolizing the responsibility that comes with liberty.

Contents

• Statue of responsibility the gary lee price story
• Plans
• References

The original idea of a Statue of Responsibility was the vision of Dr. Viktor E. Frankl, a holocaust survivor who went on to publish the best-seller Man’s Search for Meaning, which today is considered to be among the top 10 most influential books in the U.S. In this work published in 1946, Frankl stated that:

"Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."

The realization of this vision started when Frankl met Dr. Stephen R. Covey, educator, businessman, and bestselling author of the The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. They decided it was time to move past conversation. Covey contacted world-renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price and asked him to sculpt the concept of the Statue of Responsibility. Gary, an award-winning sculptor and Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, envisioned a statue depicting a hand reaching up for help with another hand reaching down in a clasping position. The hands are symbolic of Responsibility: in different times of our lives we are the hand reaching up for help or the hand reaching down to lift others.

Covey loved the concept but wished to know whether it met the approval of the Frankl’s. Unfortunately, Frankl had already died at this time (1997) but his widow, Dr. Eleonore (Elly) Frankl was living in Vienna, Austria. In 2004, a select group of representatives of the Statue of Responsibility Foundation, including Gary Lee Price, flew to Vienna, Austria to meet with Frankl’s widow and seek approval. When Gary unveiled the sculpture that depicts the two hands clasped together, Elly could not contain her emotions. It was everything Frankl would have hoped, and more. She brought Gary and the others to Frankl's study to show them one of Viktor's most prized possessions. In a niche amidst his massive library collection stood a single sculpture, a bust Viktor called "The Suffering Man", which depicted a man reaching towards the heavens in obvious agony. Elly described how Frankl had found this sculpture just after leaving the death camps of WWII, he didn't have enough money to buy it at the time so he put it on layaway. She said that Viktor would often use this bust as a metaphor for responsibility asking the question, "Where is the hand reaching down to help this man?" She then stated, indicating the sculpture presented to her by Gary, "You my American friend have brought me the answer to my husband's question."