where we gather to
serve our community, there
is America
Adapted from the line, Wherever men and women of good will gather together to serve their community, there is America in a Radio Address for the Mobilization for Human Need, October 13, 1940 by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
President also said:
… in this critical moment of our history, we must be more than ever conscious of the true meaning of the “community spirit” which it expresses. It is a spirit which comes from our community of interests, our community of faith in the democratic ideal, our community of devotion to God.
Wherever men and women of good will gather together to serve their community, there is America. It was true in the first little town meetings in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when the good folk assembled to decide measures of defense against the Indians, and how to build their first school, and how to care for their aged and sick. It is still true in this great national drive, all the way across our continent, for the Community Chest Funds.
When we join together in serving our local community, we add strength to our national community, we help to fortify the structure of our whole Union. That form of fortification—that spiritual fortification is not to be dismissed lightly by those in other lands who believe that nations can live by force alone.
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough. The vigorous expression of our American community spirit is truly important.
The ancient injunction to love thy neighbor as thyself is still the force that animates our faith—a faith that we are determined shall live and conquer in a world poisoned by hatred and ravaged by war.
Sad to say this we need to repeat:
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough.
Wherever men and women of good will gather together to serve their community, there is America.
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