The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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NEW YORK, Wednesday—Yesterday morning as I read the news, I could not but be encouraged by Mr. Churchill's suggestion of hope for a more rapid ending of the war than had seemed possible in the past. There is no one who will not pray for the war to come to an end soon. In the meantime we rejoice that we have been victorious and that our men have fought so gallantly.

I cannot help having a heavy heart, however, for I know that even though the casualties are lighter than the war command expected, whatever man has lost his life is the one important person to some family, and many men, women and children are going to feel that life is hardly worth living when the person they love best is gone.

In these dark hours which must be lived through by so many people, I think there is only one thing which can remain a fixed point in the darkness—namely, the determination that the sacrifices of youth in this generation shall not be in vain.

As individuals we feel sometimes we can do very little, but in a democracy, each individual has to fully live up to the obligations of his citizenship. Unless he expresses himself, those obligations may go unfulfilled. So each of us has the obligation to know how to make our citizenship count. We have to make up our minds on the big and little questions of national and local policies and on the people whom we choose to represent us and to carry responsibility in our government. In that way, if we are wise, we will keep true to the ideals of the men who fight the war, and by continuing to carry our full responsibility in peacetime we may feel that those who died are really living on.

I came down from the country yesterday morning and attended a lunch given by the New York City Federation of Women's Clubs, Manhattan division, to start off their Bond Drive. They hope to sell enough bonds to buy three hospital planes. This is a great goal— $375,000 worth, but the odds are that it can be achieved, and I wish the women of the NYC Federation of Women's Clubs an overwhelming success.

In the afternoon I attended a meeting at the Cosmopolitan Club called by the directors of the Vocational Foundation to consider the possibility of establishing a shelter for girls in New York City. The courts are finding it difficult to know where to place girls for a few days either before a court decision is made in each case, or when the girls return from a correctional institution. I am no longer on the board of directors of the Vocational Foundation, but I was glad to be able to arrange for the meeting to be held at the club and, because of that very minor service, I was made the guest of honor for the occasion!

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT 1944 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 22, 1944

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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