In the battle of life, it is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better.
The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
So what is the mighty lesson for us all that we can glean from Teddy Roosevelt’s Darn Mighty Things? attitude? For me, the answer is simple.
All great things start with a vision.
- When the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they had a vision;
- When Susan B. Anthony canvassed across the country advocating a woman’s right to vote, she had a vision; and,
- As Martin Luther King Jr. embarked on the Civil Rights movement, he had a vision.
Everyday as I am getting started, I read the vision I have written for my life 5 years in the future. No matter the frustrations and setbacks that happen every day in any person’s life, if I refocus each morning on my vision, I keep moving forward.
Be damned the naysayers. To heck with those that do not believe in you. And work through those that oppose what you intend to do. You need to have a vision for who you are to be and what you are to do. Dare Mighty Things.
