The Man in the Arena
Today is Whipping Boy's 48th birthday. To honor his special day, I am putting up two shirtless pictures of myself. This wouldn't shock him one bit. So, happy birthday Whipping Boy! Consider these two pictures as your birthday present because we are in a recession (thanks to ExxonMobil).
Besides making his birthday all about me, I want to bring up Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. Considering our struggles together as Doubles Partners, this speech should serve as a great inspiration for us. The speech is fairly lengthy, but my favorite part is here:
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 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 and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for 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 he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
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 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 and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for 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 he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
posted by Brettcajun at Wednesday, April 23, 2008
6 Comments:
Man you gotta quit or give me more. Those nips, that chest, THE PACKAGE, I could go on and on. If I were not a closeted, repressed, married man I tap that.
g in South Tx
Thanks Brett for the birthday wishes. This is much better than previous acknowledgements with the reference to taking Bessie the cow out to the pasture and shooting her!!! And no I am not shocked at the pics. I think I am actually responsible for taking these pics. Where's the X rated ones I took Saturday morning of you on the tennis court????
The important thing about Teddy's quote is that you are a fighter and you give it your all. That is much better than just standing in the wings being critical. Much like politics..... if you don't vote you can't complain!!!!
Thanks again Brett
My birthday is in Sept. What are you going to give me?
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Lets redo (I had to remove because of spelling mistakes)...First you then today Kelly Stern with his HNT pic. My mouth is watering and I'm horned up over both of your pics. Please show more. Woof Woof
WOOOOOF, great b'day pix for whipping boy.
Big hairy muscle birthday hugs TOM.
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