A lot of retirees and near retirees seem to want to travel, relax, play and let go of feeling responsible to make the world a better place. They might donate some to some good causes, but their days of getting into the arena and fighting for what’s right are behind them. They’ve done what they could.
A lot of young people seem to believe the world is a hopelessly lost cause and that nothing they can do or say can improve matters. They want to live a life of taking care of themselves and their immediate family and friends and having as much fun as they can afford. They have no intention of marching into hell to fight an unbeatable foe.
In my conversations with both old and young, I tell them that I understand and respect their choices and that I don’t judge them or blame them. I understand that the world is a dangerous and precarious mess that they feel powerless to do anything about. I understand their hesitancy. Why spend their precious life energy trying to change things they believe unchangeable*? Why shouldn’t people just focus on themselves and their immediate people? And, and I share, that without blame or judgement, it must also be said that, the hope of the world lies with the people who will enter the arena and fight for the right.
THE MAN IN THE ARENA
I was interviewing director of the Theodore Roosevelt society (about TR’s fascinating role in the history of spelling reform for the Children of the Code Project) when I first encountered “The Man in the Arena” speech.
About a week later I was watching the “Indian”, a movie about an unlikely man who famously won a motorcycle speed record, when Anthony Hopkins, playing the record braking motorcyclist, quoted some of the lines from the speech.
 |
It’s definitely gender-biased, a bit arrogant, and judgmental. The critics and timid souls, like those in the arena, are just being who they learned to be. For all we can know, except for choiceless differences in genes and life learning experiences any one could be anyone. Still, if it’s helpful to those in the arena to feel bit better about themselves by feeling appreciated for trying, why not?
The other “arena” is the bullfighter’s arena from JFK’s favorite quote (kept in his wallet every day). It’s a reminder to those in the arena that while it’s important to learn from everyone attending, its just as important to never to forget that only you have your life-learning’s perspective. Never surrender the authority of what you have learned except to what you are now learning. Meet the bull’s shit head on and eye to eye and trust your learning, prevail or fail, to lead your way.
To fight for the right
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
The Impossible Dream – I have a Dream – Our Problems Are All Man Made – If I can Dream – Bridge Over Troubled Water
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer (see also “paradigm inertia“)
* Human Nature – The Predatory Parasitism that Trumped Capitalism and Democracy – Humanity’s Learning Challenge