The National Park Service today reopens the observation deck in the crown of the Statute of Liberty, across from where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once commanded the New York skyline.

A relatively small number of visitors — 30 an hour — will have their names drawn and be allowed to climb 168 steps of a spiral staircase to participate in what USA Today calls “a quintessentially American tradition … (viewing) the nation’s greatest city through the eyes of its greatest symbol.”

This is a welcome event, coming nearly eight years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It says something positive about how our government is adjusting to persistent terrorism threats by striking a balance between security and personal freedoms.

The 123-year-old statue itself has been open again for five years now, but it’s the crown that holds the greatest fascination for visitors. Almost from the very beginning, the public has clamored to explore the monument from the inside and view the world through one of the 25 windows that surround its observation platform.

But thoughtful students of history suggest this gaze out the window misses something important in the life of America and our pursuit of freedom. They note that the famed sculptor of the statute, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, intended his work to be seen only from the outside. And that is how millions of immigrants from Europe captured their first views of America.

Today, those standing at the windows of the observation platform will have a remarkably wide view of New York City and the harbor — absent the twin towers destroyed in the attacks of 9/11. In that picture, something is missing and always will be.

Outside on the grounds of the monument, and from the decks of the ferries passing by, and from New York itself, those gazing toward the towering statue will be missing nothing. Like generations before, they will see Lady Liberty in all her glory — a testament to freedom on this and every Fourth of July.