and to rest in the knowledge that there is no such thing as mundane service in his name.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
August 2
Mary Alice Pinney was twelve years old when the Second World War began. She vividly recalled President Roosevelt’s radio address declaring that December 7th would forever be “a date that will live in infamy.” Her most vivid recollection of the war was the united effort that she saw on the home front:
One of the most important things I have ever seen in the world it was something I saw then that I haven’t seen in any war since. Any church, any synagogue, any place that held any religious practice, what-so-ever, sent prayers, and I mean, everywhere for the people fighting in the war. And it never stopped until long after the war. I have never seen any kind of support the way our town supported the troops in World War II. The home front sent food, supplies, and clothes, anything we had on hand to help them. We were rationed painfully, it didn’t matter how rich or poor you were, everyone was sharing in the loss.310
In
I must warn you not to hope too much from a war. Of course war is entertaining. The immediate fear and suffering of the humans is a legitimate and pleasing refreshment for our myriads of toiling workers. We may hope for a good deal of cruelty and unchastity. But, if we are not careful, we shall see thousands turning in this tribulation to the Enemy, while tens of thousands who do not go so far as that will nevertheless have their attention diverted from themselves to values and causes which they believe to be higher than the self.311
Mary Alice Pinney has illuminated C. S. Lewis’ point. During the trials of wartime, many Americans did come closer to God and to each other through mutual prayer and sacrifice. Fortunately, war isn’t necessary to bring us to this condition. Whenever we put our individual concerns aside in support of a worthy goal, we have the potential of drawing closer to others and to God.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
August 3
With a “War Ration Book” families were allowed to buy limited amounts of food, clothing, shoes, coffee, tires, gasoline, and other essentials, based on the size of the family. People learned to use everything sparingly and to waste nothing. Even razor blades were re-sharpened. Butter was so scarce that a vegetable-oil substitute was invented, called margarine. Posters appeared in the stores saying, “Do with less so they’ll have enough.” The shortage of consumer goods was severe in all areas, but in one case affected women particularly. Lourelei Prior was a female defense worker in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She explained:
We couldn’t get stockings either all the silk was used for parachutes and nylon hadn’t been invented yet. Now, stockings didn’t matter at the plant. There, all the gals wore tight clothing and pants and a hat and safety glasses and no jewelry because of the heavy machinery. But no gal or new bride wants to be seen in a skirt without stockings! So when I would go out with Herb, sometimes to make it look like I had on stockings, I would draw a black line up the back of my legs with an eyebrow pencil to make it look like I was wearing silk stockings.312
Like most Americans this woman took the shortages caused by the war with good humor and ingenuity, and made the best of what she had. She expressed the attitude of most civilians toward these hardships and gave us good advice for the present day:
In our house we didn’t grumble about the shortages… I had four brothers-in-law who were in the service. If giving up a little bit helped the boys “over there” and would bring them back sooner, it was fine with us… We just thanked God for what we did have.313
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.
August 4
By December 1941 the east-west rail lines across the United States were filled with troop trains. A small group of citizens in the little village of North Platte, Nebraska, took note of this fact and decided to try to do something for all these servicemen passing through their town. On Christmas Day the first team of five volunteers waited at the depot with baskets of sandwiches and little bottles of cold milk. During the ten-minute stop, they moved along the train passing out these treats to the hungry and appreciative men crowded into the cars. Soon the whole town and surrounding region were involved in supporting the North Platte Canteen, which became famous for this unusual and unexpected hospitality. For the duration of the war, the little town of twelve thousand fed hundreds of thousands of troops passing through without the benefit of government aid and in spite of food shortages and rationing.
One of the women who worked in the Canteen from the beginning was Elaine Wright. Her husband was a railroad employee, and her son was in the Navy. One day word spread throughout North Platte that Elaine had received the dreaded telegram informing her and her husband that their son had been killed in action. No one saw her for several days, until one morning she walked into the Canteen. There was a long and uncomfortable silence, as no one knew what to say to her. She finally said to them: “I can’t help my son, but I can help someone else’s son.”314
Some wise person once said, “You can be bitter, or you can be better.” Elaine Wright epitomized the “better” approach to dealing with grief. There is no more effective way to soothe your own pain than doing something for someone else. Seeking a higher purpose in service to others is the surest way to move beyond yourself and your
