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Saturday, May 25, 2013
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Editorial: Make this observance stick
Op-Ed · June 29, 2012
June includes Fathers Day (third Sunday), as well as National Cancer Survivors Day (first Sunday) and Juneteenth (Emancipation Day, June 19).
It’s also National Smile Month (unless you are getting your Iowa license renewed).
But thanks to the efforts of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Chief Ranger Bob Palmer, through the cooperation of the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation and the Office of the Governor, June has also been proclaimed Humanitarianism and Public Service Month.
Hoover and Borlaug are specifically mentioned in Gov. Terry Branstad’s proclamation, signed June 7.
Hoover’s humanitarian work involved feeding millions of people in war-torn areas, especially Belgium, and getting about 120,000 Americans out of Europe when Germany declared war on France. An engineer by training and a Quaker by faith, he combined those two passions into service for mankind.
Borlaug’s two passions were science and agriculture, and he developed a wheat strand that could better withstand extreme climates, which helped alleviate hunger and boost the agriculture industry in poor nations. He is credited with saving billions of lives and won the Nobel Prize.
“The value of their work to this nation and the world during the 20th century cannot be overstated,” Palmer said.
Hoover, of West Branch, and Borlaug, of Cresco, both came from humble beginnings, but went on to do something great. We laud these two uncommon men and their example to all of us, and suggest that, like Fathers Day, Humanitarianism and Public Service Month become a regular annual observance. |
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