Gratitude - The Man in the Arena
Born in 1858, Teddy Roosevelt overcame a frail childhood marked by severe asthma and poor health, transforming himself into a robust figure through sheer willpower and a "strenuous life" of boxing, hiking, and outdoor pursuits. At 25, he endured the devastating loss of both his mother and first wife, Alice, on the same day in 1884, channeling his grief into work by retreating to the Dakota Badlands to ranch and rebuild his spirit.
His resilience shone during a near-fatal assassination attempt on October 14, 1912, while campaigning as a Progressive candidate in Milwaukee. Shot in the chest by John Schrank, the bullet—slowed by a folded speech and eyeglass case—lodged in his rib. Undeterred, Roosevelt delivered a 90-minute speech, declaring, “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose!” before seeking medical care, the bullet remaining in his body for life, cementing his legend as an indomitable force.
A few years earlier Teddy Roosevelt delivered his now famous speech "Man in the Arena" in Paris on April 23, 1910.
"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 the 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. ”
Be the man in the arena. Don't listen to the spectators. Don't hold back. Don't quit.
