The Man in the Arena

After having recently read bits and pieces from a book about Theodore Roosevelt, I was surprised to learn of his rigorous battles with ongoing adversity, loss and depression, and, more importantly, his insatiable quest to conquer that despair.  Captivated by his pure grit, I find myself fascinated to learn more about the "man in the arena" and what life lessons he had to share with those who came after him.  A man of substance.

"Roosevelt emerged from that summer determined to survive any loss. And loss would come. Following his father's death, Roosevelt had a string of successes, He graduated from Harvard with honors, married Alice Lee -- a pretty blonde who he was certain would never have him, 'but,' he insisted, 'I am going to have her!' -- and, at twenty-three, was elected New York State's youngest assemblyman. In 1884, however, when he was only twenty-five years old, Roosevelt was called home by an ominous telegram. When he arrived, he found that the two most important women in his life -- his mother and his young wife -- were dying, At 3:00 a.m. on February 14, Valentine's Day, Martha Roosevelt, still a vibrant, dark-haired Southern belle at forty six, died of typhoid fever. Eleven hours later, her daughter-in-law, Alice Lee Roosevelt, who had given birth to Theodore's first child just two days before, succumbed to Bright's disease, a kidney disorder. That night, in his diary, Roosevelt marked the date with a large black 'X' and a single anguished entry: 'The light has gone out of my life.'

"Desperate to conquer his despair, Roosevelt resorted to the only therapy he knew: physical hardship and danger... he boarded a train for the Dakota Badlands, where he hoped to find the kind of hard existence that might keep his body and mind too busy to ache for Alice [his wife]. Roosevelt rarely spoke about that terrible night or about his first wife -- even to their daughter, who was named for the mother she would never know. He was a different man when he finally returned east for good two years later. He was filled with vigor and perspective after mastering an entirely unfamiliar world of danger on the American frontier -- and defeating, by sheer energy and physical exertion, the grief that had threatened to overwhelm him." 

~ Candice Millard, The River of Doubt: Theordore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

American Presidents.com