Theodore Roosevelt and The Man in the Arena
Your Today Inspiration, Fabulous Traveler, is from Zen Pencils
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) is one of my favourite historic figures and this is my favourite quote. Roosevelt was a naturalist, ornithologist, cowboy, conservationist, ranchman, war hero, writer, hunter and politician. Growing up, Teddy was severely asthmatic, too scared to play outside and would instead spend all his time reading. Finally, his father told him to ‘man-up’ and overcome his physical frailty through will power and mental toughness.
Theodore not only overcame his asthma, he went on to embrace what he called ‘the strenuous life’ – a life filled with physical activity, adventure and action. He had a fierce intellect as well, writing several books, mediating wars, winning political duels and oh yeah … he was the US President for 8 years too. Although he was by no means perfect (he was a warmongering jingo during his early life), Teddy has probably led the fullest and most action-packed life of anyone I’ve ever read about.