Rosie the Riveter

 

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV).

 

Norman Rockwell is responsible for scores of iconic art through the years. His work always centered on the common experience of the time. “Rosie the Riveter” was one of those pieces (shown here). She was the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defense industries during World War II, and she became perhaps the most common image of working women. American women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers during the war, as widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. While women during World War II worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers.

 

Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history, and the most iconic image of working women in the World War II era. Though Rockwell’s image may be a commonly known version of Rosie the Riveter, her prototype was actually created in 1942 by a Pittsburgh artist named J. Howard Miller, and was featured on a poster for Westinghouse Electric Corporation under the headline “We Can Do It!” The true identity of Rosie the Riveter has been the subject of considerable debate. For years, the inspiration for the woman in the Westinghouse poster was believed to be Geraldine Hoff Doyle, who worked in a Navy machine shop during World War II. Other sources claim that Rosie was actually Rose Will Monroe, who worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit. The most credible claim on Rosie’s legacy came from Naomi Parker Fraley, who was photographed working in the machine shop at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California. In the 1942 photo, she is sporting a telltale polka-dotted bandana.

 

Here’s the point… as we celebrate Independence Day in our nation, we must remember how each one of us is uniquely created for our time. Further, we are ALL linked together in our lives. In our reading today the apostle reminds us that we have a responsibility to one another. We must be patient and forgiving toward one another as we do whatever we are given to do “in the name of the Lord” (v. 17). As Rosie would say… We CAN do it!