The 365 Commitment

The Arena

Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in 1910 in Paris, France. This actually was not a speech, it was more of a lecture. He was instructing the world on what being a citizen in a responsible society was about. This speech was something else. If you have the time, read this here: https://www.leadershipnow.com/tr-citizenship.html. What is really an interesting perspective is if you compare this speech to the latest Trump rally or the most recent Democrat Nominee debate. That gap between the early leaders of the U.S. at the turn of the century and now is startling. What constitutes relevant and meaningful statesmanship has certainly changed.

Here is the famous part of the speech, which is very topical for my current struggle:

“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, and 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 know neither victory nor defeat.”

You are not really in the game, unless you are actually in the game. So many times we are quick to offer advise, criticism, and complaints when we are not actually in the fight. The point is that you learn, grow, fail, and rise up again and succeed when you are actually in the struggle. This is an important consideration, especially when you are really trying and dealing with constant failure. It would be better to be constantly failing and in the struggle then on the sidelines not even in the game.

So I this new found perspective gives me hope and encouragement. I am in the fight, I am in the arena and learning the real lessons of life. I am in the right place and doing the best I can to fail with flair.

Guy Reams

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