Citizenship In A Republic ~ The Man In The Arena

When I first read this speech by Theodore Roosevelt,  so many years ago, I was very moved.  This man had courage and by all accounts wanted to do something good for the country he loved despite the challenges and adversity he faced while doing so.  When I observe the current state of affairs of these two great countries, Canada and the United States of America (Canada is part of the Common wealth while the USA is a Republic, however, we share similar values in addition to the borders), it is my observation that we citizens do not have great choices for leadership. The candidates running in the USA and the ones who won in Canada, appear to be self serving and not really interested in what the people of the countries really need.  Honesty and Integrity are words that do not resonate with the candidates.  The rhetoric spewed from their mouths is just to capture votes for we all know that there is no real accountability for the promises they make when they are trying to get into office.  

Here is an excerpt from the speech made at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23rd, 1910 at 3pm.  

 "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 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."

~ here is a link to the entire speech: https://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/speeches/maninthearena.pdf

Warm regards,

Simon Vendryes