Food for Thought: The Man in the Arena

The more I find out about former President Teddy Roosevelt, the more I realize that he was a pretty tough guy; this list alone paints a picture of what he was able to accomplish during his 60 years of life (read the full article here, courtesy of Art of Manliness):

1. Work as state legislator, police commissioner, and governor in New York

2. Own and work a ranch in the Dakotas

3. Serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy

4. Fight as a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War

5. Serve as President for two terms, then run for an unprecedented third term

6. Become the first President to leave the country during his term in order to see the building of the Panama Canal

7. Write 35 books

8. Read tens of thousands of books-several a day in multiple languages

9. Explore the Amazonian rainforests

10. Discover, navigate, and be named after a completely uncharted Amazonian river over 625 miles long

11. Volunteer to lead a voluntary infantry unit into WWI at age 59.

Based on this, it's no surprise that he is the author of the famous speech, "The Man in the Arena". It speaks of the toughness that Roosevelt embodied and the same toughness that we should embrace and try to bring out of ourselves each and every day.

I would attempt to highlight key points from the speech, but honestly the entire thing is worth not only reading, but also committing to memory. I hope you enjoy this and pass it on to others who can benefit from it:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Cheers to all of us being our own man in the arena,

JIP