A few weeks ago I got a call from Larry LeClair (producer for a documentary series entitled, “Voices in Time”) to see if I would be interested in appearing in the episode about Eleanor Roosevelt (and Gloria Steinem). I said yes.

And so my journey with Eleanor began. Knowing very little about Eleanor Roosevelt’s true impact on the women’s movement in the earlier years, I delved into wikipedia and alike. It soon became apparent to me that this woman was , and still is, a great hero.

Eleanor Roosevelt speaking at the United Nations, c. 1947

There have been many women in the past who have stepped up to the plate and delivered incredible speeches or pushed governments for change and exercised such courage that they will forever be remembered. What I have learned about Eleanor Roosevelt, I believe, goes beyond the regular heroics of our day. This is a woman who took tremendous risk in voicing her opinions and concerns with regards to the poor, the abused, the neglected and those, in general, who could not speak for themselves. She spoke for women and for women’s rights at a time when equality was merely to be laughed at. Here she was the wife of the President of the United States, using her position and influence for the common good.

She did the work. She served as the first chairperson of the UN Human Rights Commission. She took on the church with regards to public education, she traveled the country reaching out to people who were being ignored and mistreated. And right before her death in 1962 Kennedy appointed her as Chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

We all need heroes and I am glad I have had the oportunity to discover more about Eleanor Roosevelt. Larry, thank you for asking me to be part of your project. The timing was perfect.

Here is a barrage of Eleanor Roosevelt quotes, all of which I take to heart:

A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.

I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.

If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.