101 years ago, TR gave his Man in the Arena speech.

[FLPanhandle]

THE MAN IN THE ARENA
Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 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 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.




It still resonates to this day. Tired of bitching? Get out and do something. Even if it's a small something. Even if it fails.

[8 track mind]

1. kick and 'effin rec! n/t

[Scuba]

2. My all-time favorite quote. Used to have it hanging in my office at work. n/t

[originalpckelly]

3. Ah, yes, we are supposed to sit quietly and shut up and do something ourselves.

Have you ever thought that criticism is something itself? There is nothing wrong with criticizing those in power, who have the PRIVILEGE of the power, not the right.

Do you have to rely on the credibility of a dead man to say something? The dead guy, in this case Roosevelt, is no longer alive. He cannot tell us in greater detail what his words meant, and I remind you he was a man, his views were no more important than ours. To presuppose that his viewpoint is chief in history, is to presuppose that there are some people created a little better than others.

A live idiot is worth two geniuses in the ground.

Don't you have a point? What are your thoughts on the matter? Why not just say what you think?

I have a feeling: you use a historical figure to cloak your own viewpoints, to give them more validity. Your plea to authority is cute, but meaningless.

The anniversary of the speech is today, but I have a feeling that you would have said this on any other day.

[FLPanhandle]

6. Who pissed in your Wheaties today? nt

[madokie]

4. I'll have to google and find it

Rec

[bvar22]

5. Teddy Roosevelt would be a Fringe Lefty today.

Can you imagine anyone in the Democratic Party Leadership advocate for Breaking Up the huge Corporations that dominate our country?

[FLPanhandle]

7. Imagine how pissed Teddy would be if he was here now.

The Republicans hated him back then too, so he's always been okay in my book.