LIVESTRONG
Jul 31st, 2006 by mark
On a whim a week or two ago I ordered a package of “LIVESTRONG” bracelets and a bright yellow tee-shirt. At the time my thinking was, I know four people in my immediate family who were either impacted by, or died from cancer. After having the bracelet for a few days it occurs to me that there is a fifth person impacted in all the cases - me.
When I look at the LIVESTRONG logo on the band around my arm I take it as a reminder to me to live strong. To face life’s challenges head on, with verve and passion. This lifetime is too fleeting to be spent on the sidelines, or worse, in the stands, watching. LIVESTRONG is a composite word that sums up on of my favorite quotes of all time:
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, 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 the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
~ Theodore Roosevelt, “The Man In The Arena”, Paris Sorbonne, 1910
