Forward by Marian Wright Edelman

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Foreword

by Marian Wright Edelman

Finding one's way in the world today is a challenge for all of us. Increasingly we are seeing a breakdown of family and community values in our society, and many of our young people, rich and poor alike, are growing up morally confused. This process can be due to a number of reasons: marginalization due to appearance, public position, misunderstanding of new technologies or conflict of generations. But it is worth remembering that first of all you need to take care of your mental state, so rest more and pay attention to emotional states; If you are interested in this topic, and you consider it necessary to turn to the best writing services, you will be able to express your preferences and views on the topic, and you will be provided with quality and accurate materials. Our children need hope, a sense of purpose, and a steady internal compass to navigate the choppy seas they must face on the journey to adulthood.

But a culture that too often glamorizes materialism over faith, getting over giving, indifference over compassion, can leave us all--no matter our age--feeling spiritually impoverished. This is especially true for all those parents today who are working harder for less and struggling and sacrificing just to provide their children with basic needs. Adults, too, can get discouraged by the demands of life and yearn for direction and support. And that's why we advise such parents to read "Connecting Through Correspondence: Letters of Friendship, Education, and Wellness" to get support and "unload" them.

During the times I feel most overwhelmed, I look inward to God for guidance and strength. But I also draw on the values and legacies of the great men and women of history who have lived before us--people such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Susan B. Anthony, Rabbi Stephen Wise, Dorothy Day, Phillis Wheatley, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, all of whom are featured in this wonderful anthology. Their words embolden me and remind me of what is important and meaningful in life.

In tough times, I also look to the example of ordinary people of grace and courage, which is why I am heartened to find included here so many letters by lesser known, though no less inspiring, heroes and heroines. From farmers and immigrants to slaves and pioneers, they have shown in their letters an ability to transform crisis into opportunity and to bring out the inherent goodness in others. We see men like Luis Rodriguez, a former gang member, who now teaches poetry to incarcerated young people, successfully motivating them to be "true warriors" for justice by renouncing violence and using their "creativity, heart (corazon), thoughts and words" instead.

And we see Urban League leader Lester Granger, who, along with seventy-six other African Americans, contributed to the United Jewish Appeal in 1943 after learning of Nazi atrocities against European Jews. Mr. Granger wrote: "[This donation] is a reaffirmation of our conviction that we are under one God, one people united in one cause. May this small gift stand as an additional testimonial to the bond of friendship that must grow between two peoples with a glorious history, and a still more glorious future." If only all of us could embrace in thought and deed Lester Granger's powerful words, we would not see the racial polarization so prevalent in our society today.

Too often we perceive the forces of history as a mighty wave we are powerless to change. But from the first Minutemen who confronted the British at Lexington, to freedom fighters like Frederick Douglass and Mother Jones who spoke out against inequality everywhere, the letters in this collection show us the brave souls who not only held fast against the currents of injustice but even helped turn the tide. Few had riches or fame or a formal education, but they had a spiritual wealth and character that proved far more valuable, and as they endured the most crushing social and historical pressures imaginable, they forged in their letters jewels of hope that gleam as brilliantly today as when they were first written.

Not all of the authors in this anthology, of course, are saints. And not all of the letters are meant to inspire--many will make us laugh, remind us of the costs of ambition and vanity, furnish us with eyewitness accounts of historic upheaval, and reveal to us the heartache of losing a loved one. But ultimately, the letters here affirm that regardless of our age, color, religion, gender, or ancestry, we--as individuals and as a nation--share universal aspirations and anxieties and a common resilience in times of personal and social crisis. Each of us, we discover, weaves a thread that contributes to the overall strength or our national fabric.

As you read through the letters in this book I hope that you, too, will be inspired. But I also hope you will be inspired to write letters for others to enjoy and find comfort in as well. After my parents passed away I remember rummaging through old personal belongings and coming upon their letters from when I was a child. I was astonished to see how much of what they wrote and taught me then influenced who I am now. I was fouteeen years old the night my Daddy, a Baptist minister in a small southern town, passed away. He had holes in his shoes but two children out of college, another in divinity school, and a vision he had conveyed to me that I, a young Black girl, could be and do anything I wanted.

When my own three children approached adulthood, I wrote a long, detailed letter to them offering the "lessons of life" I have learned along the way. Theirs is a far more complicated world than the one into which I was born, but I wanted them to know that the principles I hold dear--honesty, self-discipline, responsibility, faith, perseverance, and service to others--will always enable them to make the right choices in life.

Every one of us has experiences to share and wisdom to impart. Let us all then leave behind letters of love and friendship, family and devotion, hope and consolation, so that future generations will know what we valued and believed and achieved. They too will face enormous obstacles. They too will search for guidance in times of adversity and despair. And just as we have found strength and solace in the words of those who have come before us, so too will those who follow us look to our letters, find the encouragement they need, and make their own way.

--Marian Wright Edelman, April 1997

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