Day 6: Pick a quote from our 80-ish quotes on manhood and reflect on why it stands out to you. Does it reflect a man that you aren’t yet, but hope to be? Does one of them remind you of a great man in your life who you’ve tried to model? If you can’t seem to reflect on a single quote, just take the time to write out a few of them that you like. Doing so will keep them top-of-mind and perhaps lead to some thoughts later down the road.
“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.” –Theodore Roosevelt
I chose this quote by Teddy Roosevelt. I’m not sure why but it really jumped out at me. What I like about it is that it is about both helping others as well as being made of something strong in order to persevere. I also see it as an ideal to strive towards which I think is what helps me so much in the Air Force. Though I don’t want them to tell me how to think or what to do, for now their values align with mine so I can’t complain too much. I think this quote shows exactly how great Roosevelt was. For being seen as such an outdoors-man, he was surprisingly intellectual. I can’t wait to begin reading my biography of him.
There is another quote that I found that resonates with my interest in increasing my discipline by Marcus Aurelias: “If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, ‘I awake to do the work of a man.’” I am going to try and remind myself of this every morning.