It’s An Either/Or Choice
Being right-brain, I am artsy-craftsy and able to connect things that don’t seem to be related. It is habitual. To prove my assertion, I checked. Every essay this year relates, in some manner, to various art forms, like writing, plays, paintings, movies, etc., to my Weltanschauung, my worldview.
My most recent article, I Am Legend, was about Will Smith’s character, who lives in New York City during a post-apocalyptic time. A pathogen has killed 90% of the world’s population due to a mutated virus called Krippin Virus. Most of the remaining 10% of the population are mutant humans and animals who are now cannibals. Only 1% of the human population is still alive, but they are stalked by the mutants, who want to devour them.
Smith’s character is all alone in NYC, working on a means to cure the virus. Each day, he attempts to reach the remaining human beings in the world.
When reflecting on Smith’s character, it hit me that I am legend. I have reached out to dozens of people to assist me in helping my family halfway around the world. I am haunted by John Adams’ song in the musical 1776. He sings, “Is anybody there? ... Does anybody care? ... Does anybody see... what I see?”
However, this article isn’t about my flailing around in my wilderness. It is written for my readers. There are two foci in this essay. The first is Teddy Roosevelt, who addressed the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. No one remembers anything about Roosevelt’s lengthy speech except for the Man in the Arena paragraph.
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.
Over six decades ago, I attended Mt. Lebanon High School. One of the requirements in English classes was to memorize a hundred lines of poetry or prose each semester. In my senior year, I stood before Mrs. Davis and recited the Man in the Arena. Roosevelt understood a basic truth about life. Everyone has a choice regarding how they live their lives. Do what is good and correct on our journey down the yellow brick road, or let the world of injustices pass by our eyes and do nothing.
This is how Roosevelt put it, “...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....” Roosevelt alternative is to “be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
This is where the various art forms come together. Enter the movie Gladiator. The gladiator, Maximus, has been enslaved by the Roman Emperor, Commodus. In this scene, Maximus is fighting both men and lions in the arena.
The Gladiator ends with the battle in the arena between the unscrupulous, lying, and devious Emperor Commodus and Maximus. Emperor Commodus is adorned in an all-white outfit depicting his assumed purity.
This essay is about you. Which man are you in the arena in 2025? It is another of my Kierkegaardian either/or questions. Either you are the valiant gladiator, or you are one of the minions of the Orange President. The minions follow in lock-step what Emperor Trump says. He makes statements like a rigid election, there is a conspiracy of judges against him, he is innocent, and they are guilty. The January 6 riot was caused by Antifa, not by Trump’s MAGA supporters. Trump didn’t pardon 1500 Antifa followers.
Listen, for a moment, to Teddy Roosevelt’s speech Man in the Arena.
Visit the On Seeing the Light page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Connecting the Dots page to read more about this topic.
Visit the “I’m Alive!” page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Dreaming Dreams page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Darkest Before Dawn page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Best and Worst of Times page to read more about this topic.
Visit the My Hauntings page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Living a Life Well Lived page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Gilgamesh page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Man in the Arena page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Donald the Dumb page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Stupid is as Stupid Does page to read more about this topic.
03/17/25