Nestled between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President’s Day, thoughts for this column pulled in many directions.
Then, through the mail, someone commented that the speech that provided them the most inspiration as a young person was Theodore Roosevelt’s call to be a person “in the arena.”
Roosevelt’s call was to be someone “who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again … who knows the great enthusiasms … who spends (them)self in a worthy cause.” It seems a fitting charge for these times.
The arena of life can feel overwhelming of late: potential war, unstable economies, the pandemic, motivations of good, motivations of greed, a shocking and growing gap between abject poverty and affluence, climate change, and divisiveness at a level that feeds volatility.
My late husband told me unflinchingly to have faith in our democracy. He would have liked the quote I stumbled across from Calvin Coolidge, then governor of Massachusetts, to the Republican Commercial Travelers Club in Boston in 1920.
He said, “The government is not self-sufficient. It is maintained by the effort of those who believe in it. The people of America believe in American institutions, the American form of government and the American method of transacting business.”
Toward that end, to live “in the arena” is to recognize the individual roles we play in maintaining the strength of our democracy and our institutions. Words, attitudes and actions make a difference.
Multiple people have expressed concern to me about proposed voting reforms. There’s a fear that longtime voters will have to jump through new hoops to access a treasured right, or their counted on absentee ballot will disappear.
To some it seems a simple safeguard, however, to multitudes – those without means or transportation or assistance – it feels a slap in the face. Restrictions on the voting populous breed divisiveness.
Susan B. Anthony, when championing the right of women to vote said, “How can the consensus of the governed be given, if the right to vote be denied?”
Voting rights for the masses, including new citizens, builds community and a sense of the whole. It’s critical.
Not to be a downer, hope is built into the original quote by Roosevelt. In the face of whatever challenges come, we must also never forget “the great enthusiasms.” I’m not sure exactly what he meant, though I think he refers to the beauty and goodness of life.
Enthusiasm represents the energy we get from our family, friends, everyday joys and the beauty of nature. The joy of discovery in a baby’s eyes, the link of history when youth and elders connect and bond, the mesmerizing glow of a sunset or the freshness of a crisp, bright day.
Enthusiasm triggers hope, a sense of potential. We make mistakes, but on we go. Finding enthusiasm and lending oneself to worthy causes amidst all that’s going on, that’s living in the arena.