Good People, Warrior Spirit
Good People.
On the warrior spirit, the servant’s heart, and what it means to be an American worth the freedom someone else paid for.
Good People – today, Memorial Day, I find myself thinking about the men and women who took that definition further than most of us will ever have to.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT · PARIS · APRIL 23, 1910
The Man in the Arena
“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.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic”
Teddy Roosevelt didn’t just write those words. He lived them. And then he watched his son live them, and die in them.
THE HONOR OF THE ARENA
Theodore Roosevelt & Quentin
When America entered World War I, all four of Roosevelt’s sons enlisted. His youngest, Quentin – twenty years old, fighter pilot – was shot down over France on July 14, 1918. The Germans buried him with full military honors where he fell.
Roosevelt received the news at his home in Oyster Bay. He never recovered. The man who had charged up San Juan Hill, survived an assassination attempt, and explored uncharted rivers in the Amazon, was broken by the loss of his boy. He died seven months later.
The man who wrote
“the credit belongs to the man in the arena”
sent his own son into the arena and kept his word about what it cost.
That is what Memorial Day is about.
WHAT WE CARRY FORWARD
Be the Man in the Arena. Not the Critic.
It is easy to point at what’s wrong. Easy to stand on the sideline and tell the man in the arena what he should have done differently. The critic risks nothing. The critic loses nothing. And the critic, as Teddy made clear, counts for nothing.
The men and women we remember today were in the arena! Dust and sweat and blood on their faces. Striving valiantly. They knew great enthusiasms. They knew great devotions. They spent themselves in a worthy cause.
That is the Warrior Spirit. That is the Servant’s Heart. That is Faith in something bigger than yourself – the belief that the person next to you is worth everything you have.
So today, and every day, choose the arena. Not the sideline. Not the safe seat in the crowd. Step into the dust. Do the work. Love the people around you with everything you’ve got. Make mistakes, and own them. Strive valiantly. Dare greatly.
BE GOOD PEOPLE.
To every veteran and military family on this team – thank you. We see you. We are grateful for you and for the ones you have lost.
Lots of love,
Nate
