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

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NEW YORK, Monday—I spent most of Saturday at the Rosenwald Fund meeting. But I left long enough to spend a half hour at the annual luncheon meeting of the Adult Student Council of the Board of Education of the City of New York. They had asked me to receive a posthumous award which they gave to my husband for the services he rendered to the cause of adult education.

I know he would have been pleased to see what a large group of students attended this meeting, for all of them had learned to be better citizens. My husband always felt that there never was any end to education and that everything one did could contribute something to one's learning. I imagine that was why he was always so sympathetic with those who came to this country from other lands, or with those who, for some reason, had not had early opportunities for education and yet were not willing to let this be a permanent handicap.

* * *

Miss Thompson and I got away from New York City around a quarter to six, and, in a drizzling rain, drove up to Hyde Park. It was a gray, dreary day with little traffic on the road, but when we reached the cottage, a little black dog hurtled out of the door to greet us with as much enthusiasm as though it were early morning and the sun was shining brightly.

In spite of the cold weather, I notice that things are beginning to show in our vegetable garden. And my lilies-of-the-valley are coming up nicely. Another week and I think I'll have some in bloom. In the meantime, some lovely yellow tulips are out and some white lilacs make the house fragrant.

* * *

Sunday afternoon I spoke in Poughkeepsie for the "I Am an American Day" celebration. I always like this day because I feel that every new voter should have a sense of real importance about his first vote.

That ballot and the way in which we use it symbolizes our freedom, and nothing should ever make us underestimate its value. I am glad, therefore, that in almost every community new voters, whether they have just come of age or have just been naturalized, are given particular attention on this day and that emphasis is placed upon their potential importance to the community.

Of course, one may be a bad citizen rather than a good one, but I can't help believing that most of us want to be good citizens and that we will do all we can to fulfill our obligations once we clearly understand them. So let us continue to celebrate "I Am an American Day" and learn a little better each year how to develop into good citizens and be the great assets we should be to our nation.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 21, 1946

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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