[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

As I think about July 4, what comes to mind is the many great sacrifices people have made to make the word “independence” a reality not only to us as a country but also to us as an individual.Two names came to mind: Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, known as FDR and Marian Anderson.

No, they did not go to war and lost a limb but they did fight their own wars to make this country truly independent. As you know, years ago the people of color in this republic did not enjoy independence as we know it today. At the time Marian Anderson, an opera singer with worldwide fame, was scheduled to sing in the Constitution Hall in Washington DC, the city’s foremost concert hall.

When the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization which owned of the hall, learned that she was black, they refused to rent the hall for her concert. Marian Anderson did not protest but someone else did. And, that someone else was none other than Eleanor Roosevelt. Upon hearing the decree, Mrs. Roosevelt, who was a member of the organization, decided to resign. And, she did all that, not even knowing Marian Anderson personally, then.

Marian Anderson did not sing in the Constitution Hall but instead she sang at the Lincoln Memorial on that Easter Sunday April 9, 1939 before this nation’s dignitaries. At the conclusion of her singing, she only had this to say, “I just can’t talk. I can’t tell you what you have done for me today. I thank you from the bottom of my heart again and again.” No anger, no bitterness.

In their own ways both fought their wars and won—Mrs. Roosevelt by her resignation and Ms. Anderson by her humility and gratitude.

Pastor Paul[:id]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

As I think about July 4, what comes to mind is the many great sacrifices people have made to make the word “independence” a reality not only to us as a country but also to us as an individual. Two names came to mind: Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, known as FDR and Marian Anderson.

No, they did not go to war and lost a limb but they did fight their own wars to make this country truly independent. As you know, years ago the people of color in this republic did not enjoy independence as we know it today. At the time Marian Anderson, an opera singer with worldwide fame, was scheduled to sing in the Constitution Hall in Washington DC, the city’s foremost concert hall.

When the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization which owned of the hall, learned that she was black, they refused to rent the hall for her concert. Marian Anderson did not protest but someone else did. And, that someone else was none other than Eleanor Roosevelt. Upon hearing the decree, Mrs. Roosevelt, who was a member of the organization, decided to resign. And, she did all that, not even knowing Marian Anderson personally, then.

Marian Anderson did not sing in the Constitution Hall but instead she sang at the Lincoln Memorial on that Easter Sunday April 9, 1939 before this nation’s dignitaries. At the conclusion of her singing, she only had this to say, “I just can’t talk. I can’t tell you what you have done for me today. I thank you from the bottom of my heart again and again.” No anger, no bitterness.

In their own ways both fought their wars and won—Mrs. Roosevelt by her resignation and Ms. Anderson by her humility and gratitude.

Pastor Paul[:]