And now, This I Believe. We bring you an earlier broadcast, which is being repeated because of the special interest it aroused. Here is Edward R. Murrow as he first introduced the guest.

This I Believe. Anne Rombeau is a quiet, dignified and gracious woman with an easy sense of humor. Her activities include travelling over most of the world by foot, burro, camel, auto, rail, ship and plane. She blazed the trail for the 1951 All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race and trained fliers for the Navy in World War Two. These are some of the beliefs she has assembled in her busy life.

Amelia Earhart once wrote: “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” To me, courage is the act of living one’s beliefs. This I believe! That running through all nature, all races and the universe is the divine principle of life. This divine principle called God, animates all of us. It is like a circle whose center is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere! My oneness with nature is best experienced as I walk, alone, in my garden when the dew is still clinging to the camellia, the violet, the rose. Better yet, I live this oneness with nature as I fly, alone in my plane, into the sunrise, high in limitless space, and into the embrace of stillness, peace and God.

My oneness with races is felt most keenly in my “at-homeness” with Siberian Eskimos, Peruvian Indians or Chinese coolies. By contrast, I have found this oneness in dining at the Waldorf or talking with diplomats at embassies abroad. We are all human beings, all one, each individual trying in his own environment to live honestly, while preparing for a better future.

This I believe! The Bible says: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The fact that man was given the power of choice makes it possible for him to control his own destiny. Those who have used that power have found peace.

Personally, I am thinking of the time fifteen years ago when my doctors pronounced me an invalid for life. “A heart,” they said, “does not rebuild at your age.” Give up travel? Teaching? And, above all, flying? No! So, aware of the power which is within me, I simply drew upon it.

I have taught history, and history has taught me that basic, ethical principles have always been known to mankind; we have only developed and perfected them. Also, history has convinced me that each individual has contributed his cultural bit to a rivulet which has, in turn, commingled with a larger stream which has eventually been buffeted, swirled and finally merged into the ocean of present day life.

Each generation, each civilization has seen a better world. Yes, even in these times –which I am painfully aware of because I am living through them, even in these times great constructive movements are growing in power and strength. To me the Principle of Life is universal and I believe that as individuals we control our destinies. So we can, in turn, control the destiny of the world. When each of us is at peace with the best in self, when all of us will work for the best of all, then we will have world peace! We simply need courage. To me, courage is the act of living one’s beliefs.

That was a repeat of an earlier broadcast by California aviatrix and lecturer Anne Rombeau whose sincere belief is reflected in an active and useful life.