Am I a Tough Cookie?
“A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat, writer, reformer, First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt was born in hot water. She was born into a moneyed family but she was afflicted with a well publicized homely face. All her life, she endured insults and slights and references to her supposedly ugly appearance. As a shy and awkward girl, she was starved for love.
But instead of falling to pieces or hiding in an attic, she grew into an adult whose caring for the suffering of all races, religions and nations, grew so monumental that she became one of the most beloved women of her time – and ours. She fell in love with and married her handsome cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She had six children – and when her husband was paralyzed with polio, she became his most devoted care taker and daily reporter. She even joined the women’s division of the State Democratic Committee to help him keep his interest in politics alive.
She went on to write a newspaper column that drew political enemies and friends alike. She worked for the United Nations before she died in New York City. But her strength came not only from her courage and intelligence; she had a wild sense of humor.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue. It said, “No good in a bed but fine up against a wall.”
She was also a smart and tough woman. She told others: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence [every time] you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”
Meditation for the Day
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.”
Action for the Day
Each time I tell myself I can’t do something, I’ll remind myself of all the others who have said, “I CAN and WILL do that. . . and then did it. Why not me?
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