Happy Anniversary

This week is a pretty big anniversary and most people do not even know it. So, let's talk about this week's potential celebration.

It was 105 years ago, this week, when Theodore Roosevelt gave his “Citizenship in a Republic” speech. The speech was delivered on April 23, 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The speech is sometimes referred to as “The Man in the Arena.”

Here is the now-famous quote from Teddy's speech:

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 up 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.

As I was typing out Roosevelt's words it got me to thinking about Sam Walton. You know Walton of course. He is the man who created Walmart, the largest retailer in the world.

Some time ago I was reading Walton's autobiography, written as Sam was dying of cancer. Walton had lived a life of action. He is proud of the fact that everyday he got after it, and stayed after it.

However, in the last chapter of the book, Walton writes, “I guess when you get older, and illness catches up with you, you naturally turn just a little bit philosophical.”

Walton continued, “The truth is that if I hadn't gotten sick, I doubt I would have written this book, or taken the time to try to sort my life out.” The question at hand was whether or not Sam had spent his life in a worthy cause.

As we might imagine, building Wal-Mart required tremendous effort and sacrifice. Walton asked himself, “Am I really leaving behind something on this earth that I can be proud of having accomplished, or does it somehow lack meaning to me now that I am facing the ultimate challenge?”

I personally believe that death can help give meaning to life. Death creates a deadline. And, a project is not a project unless it has a deadline. We are all projects of various kinds. It need not be a morbid thought to ask the question, what do you want to be remembered for?

I think we all know it is hard to hit a target we cannot see. The question, what do I want to be remembered for? can be scary and intimidating. But, that is no reason to avoid cultivating your answer.

I have heard it said that the meaning of life is meaning. That is to say, it is incumbent upon each of us to create a meaningful life. Hopefully Roosevelt's quote can help give you the courage to go for it.

Lastly, I shall not leave you hanging on the subject of Sam Walton. If you have not read his book, I will finish the story. In many ways, I believe Walton was the embodiment of The Man in the Arena.

Walton wrote, “Here's how I look at it: my life has been a trade-off. If I wanted to reach the goals I set for myself, I had to get at it and stay at it every day. I had to think about it all the time. I had to get up every day with my mind set on improving something.”

I have no idea how familiar Sam Walton was with President Roosevelt's quote. But, the punchline is, yes, Walton was happy and proud of the fact that he had dared greatly. Walton wrote, “I am just awfully proud of the whole deal, and I feel good about how I chose to expend my energies in this life.”

Sam had also written, “While a lot of people were working away at jobs they might not have particularly enjoyed, I was having the time of my life.” Of course, daring greatly is not limited to work life. It is about being courageous, and entering the arena, regardless of the game we choose to play.

A big part of the problem, perhaps the main part, is that we fear what other people (the critics) might think or say. Listening to the critics keeps us small. It destroys meaning and fulfillment. In celebration of the anniversary of Teddy's quote, I hope that everyone will have the courage to dare greatly.