Radio Mirror: The Magazine of Radio Romances (Jan-June 1945)

That Brotherhood of Man is more than a Biblical precept, is the belief of the kindly minister of The Guiding Light. It is a way of life to make our world safe for free-thinking men and women THIS is a sermon for today — and for tomorrow. A modern sermon. A sermon born out of this war — this war which we are waging at such great cost and which holds out to us such great promise for the future. This is a sermon on the Brotherhood of Man. These are days thrat make great demands on the soul. They call for courage, for unstinting sacrifice, for understanding, for working together for the good of all. These days are hard days. But, hard as they are, the goal that lies ahead is worth everything that is being asked of us. Never before in the history of mankind has there been so rich an opportunity for fulfilling the ideals preached by Jesus Christ — the ideals of Peace and Brotherly Love and a rich, full, good life on earth for all. Here in Five Points, we are far removed from the terrible clashes of armies, the roar of death -bringing planes, the whine of shells, the frightful screaming of innocent children, the sorrowful weeping of mothers. Here we feel the touch of war differently. Here the war means change — change, separation from loved ones, unrest, some deprivation, some discomfort, some pain. I know there is unhappiness among you. There is sadness and loneliness in your hearts. There is irritation with the small details of living that have gone awry. There is restlessness — a not knowing what to do, not knowing how to make this evil time pass more quickly, not knowing how to keep the tears from your eyes and the note of good cheer in the letters you write to your loved ones at the fronts. There is too much work for some of you, too much work and too little rest. For others, there is too little work and too much rest. To you who are lonely and restless, irritated and tired,. I have this to say. There is a new world in the making. Our men — your men — are fighting and, sometimes, dying for this. The things for which they fight and die have many names — Freedom, National Liberation, Democracy, Equality, Opportunity, Peace — many names. But behind every By RICHARD GAYLORD one of these names, behind each one and an integrated part of each ideal, lies the Brotherhood of Man. Without a deep and vast love for our fellow men, none of these is possible. The Brotherhood of Man is a very" simple concept. And, because it is so simple, because it is so sensible, very often it is taken for granted. Everyone believes in it as an ideal preached by Jesus Christ. Not everyone realizes that loving one's fellow man can be a thing of small kindnesses, daily thoughtfulness, genuine neighborliness. It is very easy to devote oneself to large and abstract ideals. Such devotion calls for very little more than occasional lip service. It can be disposed of very nicely on Sundays and then forgotten. This may serve to still the conscience, but it is not very satisfying to the soul. It does not lead to happiness. It does not lead to the secure feeling that one has dome his best. Most of all, it does not make life interesting, full of new activities, new people, new ideas. These are days for working together. The men in our Armed Forces have learned to work together. No victory would be possible without the greatest, most trusting, most selfless cooperation on their part. We at home can do no less than our fighting men. For some of the finest examples of the kind of cooperation I mean, we have only to look at the youth of this great country of ours. Over a million and a half boys and girls between the ages of ten and twenty are members of some 75,000 virtually autonomous 4-H Clubs. These clubs are active in every State and in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska. Last year, these million and a half boys and girls, by working together in the individual clubs, grew five million bushels of Victory Garden products and twelve million pounds of peanuts, soybeans and greens. In 1943 their pledge was "I will feed a fighter!" They kept that pledge by producing and marketing nine million poultry birds and six hundred thousand heads of livestock. For 1944 they enlarged their pledge. It grew into, "I will feed a fighter and more in 1944!" In addition to increasing their farm output, these rural teen-agers canned fifteen million jars of food, collected over 300 million pounds of scrap, purchased and sold more than thirty million dollars' worth of War Bonds and Stamps. These are children, yet they have an important lesson to teach all of us. They are putting into action things which many of us all too often merely talk about. To them, Democracy is not just a word. It is a living thing which they understand, which they practice toward each other and toward other people, so much a part of them that they have no need to speak of it all the time. To these boys and girls, the Brotherhood of Man is more than an abstract ideal — again — so much a part of their lives that they probably never need to mention it. If you were to ask one of them why he does the work he does, he would probably answer, "I like to do it," or, "It's fun," or, as one boy to whom I spoke said, "Well, Mr. Gaylord, it's like this. You kind of get tired of fooling around. It's swell to be doing something that gets some place. It's sort of good to know that you're being some use to somebody. And I get a kick out of knowing that I'm doing my part for the war. My brother's overseas, now. I feel like it's right I should do as much as I can. Besides, we're picking up all kinds of things — you know, how to do things, what makes them tick — that'll come in handy later on." Of course, not all of you can see your way clearly to such selfless devotion to others. There is so much for all of you to do, just to keep things going. You have homes to run and families to care for and jobs to hold down. Tne fact is that by looking about you, by lending a hand to others on occasion, by combining forces with others like yourselves, busy, tied down, overburdened, you can lighten your own tasks. For instance, did you know what has been done (Continued on page 66) 41