Entering the Arena
Daring greatly through the storms of life
I’m grateful to scholar and researcher Brene Brown for introducing me to President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 Citizenship in a Republic Speech. In the most recognized passage, President Roosevelt remarked:
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. (Roosevelt, T. (1910). Citizenship in a Republic. Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April, 23.)
The places of our collective life — our work, the marketplace, businesses, organizations, militaries, communities, governments, schools, churches etc. — these are our arenas. In these places we struggle, fail, and triumph; we support and critique one another; we strive to contribute our unique abilities for pay, but more richly for meaning. When we at last fall, each hopes our life served a purpose. In some small way, at least, we hope the footprint we left behind has improved the lives of those who walked alongside us.
May you be not satisfied as the critic who merely points out flaws, May you dedicate your skills, experience, and talent — integrated from diverse contexts — in service of those who seek to strengthen collective endeavors. May your days in the arena shed light on your journey.