065 - ”Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick.” Insights from Teddy Roosevelt

Hello, Bettys and Jacks. Today we’re talking about Teddy . . . Roosevelt, that is. After a mild swear warning (Mama Ximena is a little spicy today!), and a discussion about how the only free thing in life is your mother’s love.

 

After some fun facts with Lex (“Half the facts, all of the laughter!”) about the life of President Roosevelt, with some minor fact-checking by Mary (thanks, Wikipedia!), Alexis gives a lot of great quotes by this fascinating conservationist, cowboy, governor, war hero, and President of the United States. One of his most famous quotes is “The Man in the Arena,” which you can read more about 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 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 the 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.

 

Another quote Mary and Lexy really appreciate is this: “The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it” (read the article here, and explore more of his quotes here). This is our Better Betty Challenge for today: ask yourself what can you do in your everyday life to demand joy. And our ‘shot of Jack Juice’ (is that even a thing?) is to be careful when you demand something from another person, especially women. Many times women do not feel they have the right to demand anything, so we hope you’ll encourage your Bettys to demand joy.

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Thank you for listening, Bettys and Jacks. We hope you appreciate some wisdom from this fine man, and we hope that his words will help and inspire you as well. And always remember that we love you more.