Saints and Sinners: ‘This I Believe’ old but relevant
The TV news business is going through troubling times. People aren’t tuning in to the network news as they used to. Once highly rated news programs are being called “irrelevant.” The Sunday morning talk-show pundits are losing their drawing power.
Does the news need something new? Or, more to the point of this story, something old? Something like the 1950s radio program, “This I Believe,” which presented the personal beliefs of men and women from around the world — written by themselves and read by themselves on 200 radio stations across the United States, Europe and Asia. The program also reached over 10 million people through its appearance in U.S. newspapers, in addition to newspapers in 97 foreign countries.
The story starts with Edward R. Murrow, who wrote this foreword to the first volume of the book, “This I Believe,” (Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1952): “In the autumn of 1940 when Britain stood alone, when the bombers came at dusk each evening and went away at dawn, I observed a sign on a church. It was crudely lettered and read, ‘If your knees knock, kneel on them.’
“As the months wore on and the nights lengthened, and the casualty lists mounted, I became more concerned to understand what sustained this island people, what beliefs caused them to stand so steady in their shoes.”
Turn the clock ahead to 1949. Four men are at lunch together — one of them the broadcast icon, Edward R. Murrow. During the course of the meal, the conversation turned to a discussion of the truism that “among people generally, material values are gaining and spiritual values declining.”
What could be done? It was decided by those at the table that a chosen number of men and women would unfold their personal philosophy, tell what they deem important in life and the rules by which they run their own lives. Many of their stories, Murrow was sure, would read like the stories of fortitude and indomitable courage, resourcefulness and endurance that were marks of the British character in the autumn of 1940 when Murrow manned the watchtowers in England.
Those who received invitations to be contributors were told, “We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but how you reached your beliefs — and if they have grown, what made them grow.”
The stories that make up the two volumes of “This I Believe” number more than 200 — from Bernard Baruch and Eddie Cantor to Darryl Zanuck.
My favorite is by Oscar Hammerstein II, author of such Broadway hits as “Oklahoma!” and “South Pacific” and songs such as “The Last Time I Saw Paris” and “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” He wrote: “I don’t believe anyone can enjoy living in this world unless he can accept its imperfection…. Nature is older than man and she is still far from perfect. Her summers do not always start promptly on June 21st. Her bugs and beetles and other insects often go beyond her obvious intentions, devouring the leaves and buds which she has adorned her countryside.
“After the land has remained too dry for too long, she sends relieving rains. But frequently they come in torrents so violent that they do more harm than good. Over the years, however, nature keeps going on in her imperfect way and the result, in spite of her many mistakes, is a continuing miracle. It would be folly for an individual to seek to do better — to do better than go on in his own imperfect way, making his mistakes, riding out the rough and bewildering, exciting and beautiful storm of life until the day he dies.”
Stories like these can give an inspiring boost to the daily news now languishing on the Internet.
(George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.)