It borders on the ironic to say I have been under a bit of
pressure lately.
Truth is over the past month just about every time when I
thought I could not handle one more piece of bad news; it was delivered to me
the next day.
Almost everyone friend and foe alike has weighed on what I
am doing wrong, what I could do better, the sins and mistakes of my past, etc.
People can’t help it. It is just the way we are made.
Criticizing, and second-guessing, and passing judgment on others, despite
admonition from virtually all religions on these actions, the judgments are
made and these practices by the self-righteous continue.
Truth be told when you have been through as much as I have
and when you reach the point in your life I have, the opinions of others
outside of your loved ones and those closest to you, don’t really register.
That said, this morning when I opened an e-mail from my long
time partner and friend John Aquilino and saw the following quote from my
favorite all time American President, I could not help but smile.
I am sharing it with you because everyone who has ever faced
impossible odds, or has been bombarded by the nay-sayers or who simply strives
to stand against the crowd, needs to have this in their quiver of resolve.
"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." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
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