No passage captures the summoning of courage quite like “The man in the arena” by Theodore Roosevelt.
However, since the passage is framed in masculine terms, it may not carry the same significance for different audiences.
I believe that it’s important for passages to be reframed from the perspective of the reader for its message to fully resonate.
As such, I have attempted to reframe “The man in the arena” for a wider audience, though please apply your own framing to best consider the message.
It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong stumble, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one 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 themself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fails while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
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